AAUW- Camarillo Branch Beacon
March, 2005

Ferial Masry, daughter of an amazing Saudi Arabian woman, is equally unique. Her mantra, which she conveyed to more than 30 members and guests at Ginger Shutze’s home on Jan. 30, is simple: “Be true to yourself and you can do anything you want in life.”

Ferial, who is internationally famous as the first Saudi born woman to run for office in the United States, has been invited in February to Jedda in her birth country to speak to reporters and officials. Last year the guest at the international conference was ex-President Clinton, and before that ex-President Bush. She was surprised, but is pleased, to have been invited.

“I’m like a bridge connecting the Middle East and here,” she said.

“I’m a beacon.”

Ferial’s mother had seven children, three of them girls. Though she, at that time could neither read nor write, she was insistent that her daughters be educated. She took Ferial, then only 10 years old, to Egypt to a boarding school. From there, the family moved to England.

Ferial married and came to the United States and has a son who has served as an American service man in Iraq, helping build hosptials and schools. 

Her mother, caring for her ill father, decided she would not berate her fate, but would do something constructive, so she taught herself to read and write. “One day my mother called and said she was sending me something,” Ferial laughed. The package came. It was a book her mother had written in Arabic which was then translated into French and English. Since then she has had 11 books published!

The speaker, thoroughly a part of the American culture and proud of it, tried to explain the Saudi culture and the role of women there. “It is not Islam,” she declared. “It is the system that is faulty.” The royal family, supported by our own government, is wealthy, corrupt, and oppressive. “To understand Islam,” she explained, “look at your own Bible.” Many of the customs in the culture are from the early days. Even wearing the veil came from Sarah, the wife of Abraham. “Remember the climate and the dust. Also a woman who is covered is safe, since noone knows if it is a young girl or an older woman.” She herself would not wear a veil, but when she is in Medina on her February trip, she will cover her head with a scarf. “It’s a religious place, so that is a sign of respect.”

Education is free from first grade through college in Saudi Arabia, and the government will pay for the entire family to go with a student to be educated in another country. Most doctors, and many professionals are women, and 95% of the women are educated.

Masry Says Americans Have Misconceptions about Saudi Women. “Women have their own businesses. There are Chambers of Commerce for women.  Husbands can not take the wife’s money. If she came from a rich family, the husband must keep her at the same standard of living. There is a contract with the marriage. The man must give the dowry to the wife for her own. If the husband leaves, he must continue to support her and the children.” Forty percent of the wealth of the country is in the hands of women. She has a friend whose daughter runs a lab with men scientists who report to her.

The problem, she explained, is that Islam has been distorted in the last several decades in an alliance between the royal family and the religious hierachy. “Men have hidden information from the women.” It began with the Colonial occupation when women were educated under the British system, but only to be housewives.

On the question of voting, she explained that a vote in the Middle Eastern culture has a completely different meaning from one in the Western world. “When you vote for someone, you pledge to support him completely. To fight for him. To do all you can for him.”

When asked about the madras schools which train boys in extreme religion, she contended that the system was set up as an invention of the CIA and the Royal family. “They had all these Afghan orphans from the war there, and they wanted to teach the poor to fight.” The Taliban were these orphans.

She is upset at the present administration’s approach to inflicting democracy in the Middle East and passing the Patriot Act in this country. Asked about the possibility of ground swell change, she pointed out that five people can not legally gather  together, so there is no chance for organization formation under the present oppression.

She believes that one who comes to this country from the Middle East should adapt and become American.

When Ferial goes to Jedda February 15, there is no question that she will speak hermind. That is part of who she is.