Saudi election finally includes women, also allowing them to vote

For the first time ever, women in highly conservative Saudi Arabia can vote and run for election.

The Saudi Arabian election ends Thursday with 900 women candidate and 6,000 men vying for 284 municipal councils, according to Yahoo News. Those seats give the one with position power over local affairs.

Omaha reported that this is a significant step further to giving women equal rights in very strict Saudi society. The municipal council are the only positions in the government where citizens can elect representatives. However, women still has to face the challenge of strong gender segregation policies in Saudi Arabia.

Women are not allowed to address male voter directly. They are required to have a partition in front of them when speaking, or have a male relative represent them.

The General Election Committee prohibits both male and female candidates from putting their faces on promotional materials, social media, and billboards. They are also banned from appearing on Television. This way, the playing field will be more levelled.

"Saudi Arabia has done a great PR job in selling these elections as part of much-touted reforms," said Institute for Gulf Affairs director Ali al-Ahmed in a report by Independent UK. "The reality is that not much changes."

There are still a lot of things women are not allowed to do in Saudi Arabia. They are not allowed to drive. They can't travel abroad alone without the permission of a male guardian. There are a lot of punishments waiting for women that openly violates any of the strict Saudi Arabian rules.

The positions where women can run have petty responsibilities like managing the streets, collecting garbage, and attending to the public gardens. The new policy of letting women vote and run for office may be just a PR activity, but it still a significant change leading to equal rights.