Isobel Coleman has no training in Middle East studies and knows none of the languages of the region. She has only taught a course on US-Japanese relations before embarking on a career of venture capitalism (I don't personally know what that means, but I know it is not Middle East studies). Like every "expert" at the Council on foreign relations, she is a promoter of the House of Saud. Here, she tells the Washington Post that Saudi women are ahead of women in Iran. I mean, I really don't mind that you engage in propaganda but try to fit your propaganda within the confines of facts and reality: "The swearing-in of 30 women to the Saudi king’s Shura Council earlier this year, the Olympic debut of female Saudi athletes in London last summer, the Women2Drive campaign that began on Saudi streets in 2011 — all are markers of change and also, paradoxically, reminders of the hurdles women still face in conservative nations in the Middle East. Even as educational opportunities have increased, unemployment among Saudi women who want to join the workforce is 34 percent, The Washington Post reported last year, mainly because of the strict interpretation of Islam that keeps women cordoned off from society.
“You have these events that are happening that are incrementally normalizing a role for women in society, and Haifaa’s film is another step in that direction,” Coleman says.
Coleman sees some parallels to the Iranian film scene, where female filmmakers have had recent success. “It’s helped Westerners and outsiders understand the nuances and complexities of the issues in Iran. But, if anything, things have gotten worse for women in Iran in recent years.”" So as women in Saudi Arabia get more freedoms, women in Iran regress, according to her.
“You have these events that are happening that are incrementally normalizing a role for women in society, and Haifaa’s film is another step in that direction,” Coleman says.
Coleman sees some parallels to the Iranian film scene, where female filmmakers have had recent success. “It’s helped Westerners and outsiders understand the nuances and complexities of the issues in Iran. But, if anything, things have gotten worse for women in Iran in recent years.”" So as women in Saudi Arabia get more freedoms, women in Iran regress, according to her.
