Women in Saudi Arabia

This is about both continuity and change in the lives of the elite of Jiddah. The women of thirteen families belonging to three generations were studied for more than a decade. Women’s roles within the home, religious sphere, and societal strictures, as well as women’s relations with family, friends, and men, are reviewed. Using religious rituals, residence patterns, marital choice, and veiling and seclusion customs as examples (among others), Altorki notes that both ideology and social organization have helped shape women’s lives. These women are not in a static environment. Rather, they are enlarging their autonomy through definition and manipulation of norms and religious doctrine, albeit within confines still defined by men. Highly recommended for informed laypersons as well as specialists. Frada L. Mozenter, Univ. of North Carolina at Charlotte Lib.Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.