Jeddah: The New Face

The city of Jeddah has developed at a very fast pace for the last few years. Old houses and buildings have been brought down, soon to be replaced by the new ones. Middle and upper class housing compounds and complexes have emerged uncontrolled. Numerous international schools and colleges have been established. The number of shopping malls, cafés, and restaurants has skyrocketed. The economy is clearly improving. It is amazing to see how fast this city is changing. Not only do I witness the great development of the city known as Arus al-Bahr al-Ahmar, but I also observe the changing face of the society here.

I think Saudi society (or Jeddah in particular*) is becoming more open about cultural change influenced (again and again) by the west and other Arab nations. I can feel that nowadays, girls and women are no longer afraid to experiment; they are more willing to break the traditional norm of the society. They are more carefree and relax than before — but not carefree enough if you compare it to ours. They would go to the mall with their girlfriends hand in hand without having to worried about their brothers or fathers following them all the time. They would sit at the café, spend the whole night window shopping, or giggle and gossip freely. Well, I don’t know if you’re aware of this. Women or teens who giggle in a public place were considered unacceptable — my dad used to shush me when I unintentionally did that with my sister in public. People would think I’m a coquettish or flirtatious . But anyway, thanks to the recent city’s development, women are now able to attend private universities. Few years ago, private colleges were non-existent and public universities were the only higher education institutions existed in Saudi Arabia. These universities, offered mostly Islamic degrees, were the center of conservative religious activities. Women had limited choices to pursue education on the area of fields they wanted to study, especially science and technology. Marriage was the only “logic” choice available for them, as most families were quite skeptical of sending their daughters abroad.

Jeddah and other big cities in Saudi Arabia are witnessing the rise of fashion among teens and women. Abaya, the Arabic black robe that is required to be worn by women everytime they go out of the house, becomes tighter and tighter. FYI, less than five years ago, abaya was designed to be soooo loose and big, so that our shape of body could not be seen. Actually, the size of abaya that is sold in a market is still very loose. But customers would usually ask the shopkeepers to cut it. Surprisingly, Muttawa who would usually say HARAM to every single thing, does not do anything with it . As a result, more women (most of them!) these days throw their loose abayas away and choose the tighter ones. And that’s what they call a new fashion; a tight expensive black abaya with a unique design (e.g. a butterfly or flower design on the back of it). In addition to abaya, people in Jeddah wear shorter headscarves compared to few years ago. Headscarf was used to be wide and long so that you can cover not only your head, but also your chest. Nowadays, Arabic modern women and teenagers barely wear long headscarves. I can even see the number of them who don’t wear scarves is increasing. Makeup also becomes part of the fashion. Women are no longer afraid to go to public places with their heavy makeups on. FYI, muttawa would usually shout at these people who put tick makeup on their faces. Women nowadays would put 5 cm makeup (hehehe ) just to go to the mall for few hours. They would put very dark eyeshadow and tick mascara just like this lebanese singer. Well, not all of them, but most of them do .

One challenging aspect (at least for Muttawa) of this changing society is the integration between different sexes. For decades, Saudi Arabia has limited direct contact or relationship between men and women of different families. The two groups are almost entirely segregated. And that’s part of their culture. If you and your partner visit a house of Saudi relative, you’ll be separated into different living rooms, one is for women, and the other is for men. There’s no way that your partner introduce you to the male relatives, and vice versa. Men were once prohibited to enter most malls in Jeddah (how sad! hahaha), but the government lifted the rule later on. If you are a man and wants to go to a restaurant (with your male friends, for example), you are only permitted to a “single” section, not a “family” section of a restaurant. You will have to bring your family (i.e. wife, daughter, or women relatives) to be able to enter the family section. The same thing also applies when you want to order a food for take away. If you are a woman, you must queue in a “ladies only” section — but, strangely enough… the person who will take your order is indeed a male. Shopkeepers of every single lingerie shops were also males (the government just passed the law to permit women to do the job).

This segregation of sexes is becoming less obvious and more relax compared to few years ago. The concept of Food Court was introduced at most newly built malls in Jeddah a while ago. The food court has no “family-only” or “men-only” section, nor does it have a temporary divider (sekat?) between each tables. Men and women can sit and eat in every part of the food court. No rules. No restrictions. If you happen to travel to Jeddah, don’t forget to visit Tahlia Street, one of the wealthiest streets in Jeddah. The street is home to many malls, shopping centres, designer shops, boutiques, fancy restaurants, and cafés. It is perhaps the only public area in Jeddah that is NOT HUNTED by muttawa. You can sort of feel the difference when you are in Tahlia and in Balad (the other famous shopping district). If you are a girl and spend window shopping in Balad with a guy who is not your husband or brother, I can guarantee that people there would see you in disgust and even shout at you. If you’re caught by muttawa, you might be thrown in jail. But it’s different story when you go to Tahlia. Girls and women would uncover their heads, put on heavy makeup on their faces, talk to opposite sex freely without any interventions, or even go for dates!! No one would shout at them. Men would bravely follow pretty girls, approach them, and give them their mobile numbers (that’s how youngsters search for girlfriends by the way ). Laura admits that she and her friends have seen a Saudi girl, without an abaya, sitting with her boyfriend in a coffee shop in Tahlia! You can now see the outcome of being surpressed for years… it’s really bad, isn’t it?

* You can’t really compare the story here to the one exists in Mekkah for example. Because the society in Jeddah and Mekkah is totally different. People in Mekkah are much more traditional and conservative, compared to those in Jeddah.

Photos (through links) taken from: arasale and 3arabiaphoto