Karen P. Hughes, the under secretary of state for public
diplomacy, is charged with spreading the American message in
the Muslim world. She went on a tour of the Arab world. One
audience she faced, 500 women covered in black at a Saudi
university, seemed ideal for her pitch.
But the response was not what she and her aides expected.
When Mrs. Hughes expressed the hope that Saudi women would be
able to drive and vote so that they can "fully participate in
society" as they do in the USA, many challenged her.
"The general image of the Arab woman is that she isn't
happy," one audience member told the New York Times.
"Well, we're all pretty happy."
The room, full of students, faculty members and some
professionals, resounded with applause.
Many say they resent the American assumption that, given the
chance, everyone would live like Americans. The group of
women, picked by the university, represented the privileged
elite of Saudi Arabia and the area is known as one of the
more liberal areas in the country. While they were friendly
toward Ms. Hughes, half a dozen who spoke up took issue with
what she said.
The administration's efforts to publicize American ideals in
the Muslim world have often run into such resistance. Ms.
Hughes seemed clearly taken aback as the women told her that
just because they were not allowed to vote or drive, that did
not mean they were treated unfairly or imprisoned in their
own homes.
As the session was ending Ms. Hughes, a longtime
communications aide to President Bush, assured the women that
she was impressed with what they had said and that she would
take their message home. "I would be glad to go back to the
United States and talk about the Arab women I've met," she
said.
Ms. Hughes is the third appointee to head a program with a
troubled past. A report issued in 2003 by a bipartisan panel
chosen by the Bush administration portrayed a dire picture of
American public diplomacy in the Arab and Muslim world.
Ms. Hughes has been in many meetings in which she has
tirelessly introduced herself as "a mom," and explained that
Americans are people of faith, and called for more cultural
and educational exchanges. Her efforts to explain policies in
Iraq and the Middle East have been polite and cautious.
In December, there was an armed attack on the American
Consulate in Jidda leaving five people dead, and that meant
that the Americans traveling with Ms. Hughes were cautioned
against traveling alone in the city.
At the meeting with the Saudi women, television crews were
barred and reporters were segregated according to gender.
American officials said it was highly unusual for men to be
allowed in the hall at all.
A meeting with leading editors, all men, featured more
familiar complaints about what several said were American
biases against the Palestinians, the incarceration of Muslims
at Guantanamo Bay and the supposed American stereotype of
Saudis as religious fanatics and extremists, after Sept.
11.
Ms. Hughes responded by reminding listeners that President
Bush had supported the establishment of a Palestinian state
and asserting that Guantanamo prisoners had been visited by
the International Red Cross and retained the right to worship
with their own Korans.
Americans, she said at one point, were beginning to
understand Islam better but had been disappointed that some
Muslim leaders had been "reticent" at first in criticizing
the Sept. 11 attacks.
"Now, several years later, we're beginning to hear other
voices," she said.
But it was the meeting with the women that was the most
unpredictable, as Ms. Hughes found herself on the defensive
simply by saying that she hoped women would be able to vote
in future elections.
Several women said later that Americans failed to understand
that their traditional society was embraced by men and women
alike.
"There is more male chauvinism in my profession in Europe and
America than in my country," said Dr. Siddiqa Kamal, an
obstetrician and gynecologist who runs her own hospital.
"I don't want to drive a car," she said. "I worked hard for
my medical degree. Why do I need a driver's license?"
"Women have more than equal rights," added her daughter, Dr.
Fouzia Pasha, also an obstetrician and gynecologist,
asserting that men have obligations accompanying their
rights, and that women can go to court to hold them
accountable.
Like some of her friends, one young Saudi woman said
Westerners failed to appreciate the advantages of wearing the
traditional black head-to-foot covering known as an abaya. "I
love my abaya," she explained. "It's convenient and it
can be very fashionable."
