Muhammad Al-Harfi Okaz About two years ago, I happened to be a guest of Dubai Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan. During our conversation, I drew his attention to the raging controversy in our country about women's driving, especially the opponents' claim that allowing women to drive would lead to a rise in cases of harassment. Then, I asked him about the percentage of harassment in his Emirate where women have been allowed to drive for many years. He told me the percentage of harassment in Dubai is almost zero, as there were only a few cases reported within a whole year! He attributed this to strict implementation of the law against harassers. Khalfan said it was the UAE law that allowed women to drive first with a condition to make available an environment that stopped gender mixing. The recent harassment incident that happened at Dhahran Mall in Al-Khobar, rocked the Saudi society to a great extent, mainly because of its ugly nature. It was revealed that there are some young people who have lost the most basic elements of ethics and generosity, as well as the religious principles that prohibit what they did. This also shows the negative and abominable mentality of some people. What we are doing is remaining as spectators to what is happening without making any move to save the girls and stop the aggressors from exceeding proper bounds. Harassment is not restricted to any single country, and no country is without it. Its history is as old as that of mankind. However, there might be an increase in one region and decrease in another one due to the social and religious factors and the prevailing laws. In this contemporary age, there is a rise in the number of harassment cases in Europe and America, because of many reasons, of which the most important is unrestrained gender mixing and weak religious deterrents, in addition to the rampant use of drugs and alcohol that influence the behavior of some people and make them behave in strange ways. They come to realize their actions only after sometime. There are several types of harassment. They include sexual harassment, harassment by word, touching, commenting, glancing, and indirect harassment. The conditions set, either to employ a small pretty girl or to abandon the veil while working or force female employees to work at any time that the boss wants are some forms of harassment. Mounting pressure on a female employee to work so as to make her yield to blackmail is also a form of harassment. In our society, we hear and read about various types of harassment. There are cases of harassment involving women and girls at schools. Some children have sometimes become victims of harassment up to the extent of kidnapping and murder. One who follows newspaper reports could get a clear picture of this. All harassers are not Saudis. There are also foreigners, and those who belong to different strata of society, including professors, doctors (harassing nurses and even patients), drivers, and workers at shops or schools. We have to deal with this reality, which seems to be on the rise, seriously and for this we have to do serious work to drain its sources as much as possible and this draining requires cultural work and stringent laws as well to protect people from harassers. It is the duty of the society, through family circles and educational institutions, to make men aware that women also deserve all the rights and privileges of a human being. She has an independent entity like men. She is not simply a source of pleasure. The assault on women, whatever may be its degree, is incompatible with our religion, ethics and masculinity. It is the duty of every man to protect his wife like he protects his mother or close relative whom he does not abuse. On the other hand, all means of media should avoid exploiting a woman's body for means of propaganda and advertisement or for television serials that encourage immorality and deviation. It is the duty of woman not to behave in a way that gives an indication to some people that she is not against being harassed. Here, I want to point out that there is a misconception among some people that the one who tempts them to harassment is that woman herself. Anyhow, harassment is a crime whatever may be the temptation. If we assume that a woman made a mistake, it does not give a license for a man to commit the same error. I know that only a small number of women are instrumental in harassment. Hence, I demand to make the penalty for harassment equal between man and woman to deter both parties. It must be noted that a large number of people who are harassed remain silent out of fear or shame. It is essential to encourage all victims of harassment, especially children, to speak out about such incidents so as to deal with such cases directly and thus nip them in the bud. Harassment is a common phenomenon, which is to be dealt with sternly. There is no need to wait for what the Shoura Council is going to say about it. Harassment is a crime in every sense of the word. If we call for an end to this phenomenon or reduce its impact as much as possible, then the first thing we have to do is to frame stringent penal action against the harassers. Apart from this, taking advantage of the media and the educational institutions is absolutely imperative to bring harassment cases down to the minimum.
