On Friday, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah made history when he named 30 women to the kingdom’s Shura Council, an appointed advisory body that cannot enact legislation but is still the closest institution to a parliament in that country. He also amended the Shura Council’s law to ensure that women would make up no less than 20 percent of the 150-person council going forward.
Isobel Coleman’s article explores the extensive ground still left to be covered in securing equality for the women of Saudi Arabia, but she seems to think—and I agree, for whatever my opinion adds to hers—that this is certainly a step in the right direction.