Women in Saudi Arabia will not be allowed to vote in the long-delayed municipal elections to be held in September, the election commission said on Monday. Saudi Arabia announced last week it will hold the elections, in the first political concession since protests sweeping the region reached the kingdom.
The Gulf Arab state is a monarchy ruled by the al-Saud family in alliance with clerics from the strict Wahhabi school of Islam. Women must be covered from head to toe in public and are not allowed to drive. Saudi women are also subject to a male "guardianship" system which requires they show permission from their guardian -- father, brother or husband -- to travel or, sometimes, work. Religious police patrol the streets regularly to ensure gender segregation and that women are dressed modestly.