Jean Sasson’s book Princess on the life events of a Saudi princess gives great insights on the lives of Saudi women in the 90s. To a large extent, the book holds true to the lives of Saudi women at the time such as a lack of proper education, forced marriages, and honor killings. I haven’t lived through that time, but I can easily imagine such discrimination against women.
Unfortunately, injustice and mistreatment still inflicts the women of Saudi Arabia in our day. Princess Sultana’s childhood brought back to me memories of my own childhood when my father preferred my brothers to us (his daughters) by giving them more freedom, love, toys and sometimes more food. To this day, generally speaking, men are granted full freedom and control over their lives while women are restricted to the home. Their way out of the house can only be achieved either through lucky marriage or strenuous education and personal strength coupled with ample leniency from their male guardians.
Education, however, helped change Saudi men’s views on women. A growing number of Saudi fathers nowadays carry so much pride in being named after their first born daughter, refuse to let their daughters undergo FGM, insist on their daughters education, brag about sending their daughters abroad to finish their degrees, and strive to find the best husbands for their daughters.
It is true that education has made tremendous positive changes to the lives of women in my country, but unfortunately little has been achieved legally for women. A man can still decide whether or not his daughters go to school, work or marry the men of their own choosing. The law does not protect women in many cases and the happiness of women here is down to the level of goodness of their male guardians.
The narrator, nonetheless, fails sometimes to give a true picture of Saudi Arabia. Her stories appear to be either true to her region or class and carries less truth for other regions, classes or tribes. For example, labeling all Saudis as rich, claiming that alcohol has easy access to a Saudi home, or considering the announcement of engagement and weddings extremely private matters. Her narration at other times can only be considered authentic for her time, for the book cites so many almost dead practices such as women and men of no relations to one anther not being allowed in the same car, marrying young girls to old men, protecting babies from evil eye by pinning blue beads to their clothing, or celebrating the virginity of a new wife.
As I read the book, I couldn’t help stop crying with every chapter. Some of the princess’s reflections reminded of a long gone childhood and her anger has reawaken suppressed feelings inside me. I felt that the years of submissiveness and helplessness have washed away my anger and ability to see the injustices of our situation. The first few chapters made me boil with anger, but as I kept reading and reflecting on our lives, my feelings changed to optimism. I am extremely grateful to the women who lived before me. Through their struggle, they helped pave the way for the women of my generation. I know too that women of future generations will reap the benefits of my generation’s struggle.