Absurd, ridiculous, pathetic or prehistoric? What term most suitably describes the actions of a doctor who insisted upon the expulsion of all women from a medical conference before he condescended to present his paper? I guess that the correct response would be “all of the above.”

Trust me, as jaded as I am with much of what goes on here, I was absolutely furious when I read the front-page article that narrated how a presenter from King Saud University refused to deliver his speech about organ donation in the presence of women. (One could assume by this attitude that his paper contained justification of narrating the phrase, “Sorry sir, your son will have to die because we only have female kidneys available”!) Although strict segregation is enforced in most public places within the country, mercifully somewhere along the line common sense prevailed and hospitals were exempted from this impractical and counterproductive stricture. This exception was presumably based on the logic that, even in Saudi Arabia, people flock to such institutions not for the pursuit of lascivious entertainment but usually because they are sick.

The fact, therefore, that this was a medical conference, attended not by a bunch of party animals, but by professionals who came in pursuit of knowledge makes the whole incident all the more shocking. To me, such a debacle raises some very important issues that need to be earnestly addressed rather than greeted with the usual trite and evasive responses that we are so used to hearing.

Why was it that the good doctor chose to attend what must have been billed as a mixed seminar if the very sight of women was so offensive to his peculiar sensibilities? If he was so disgusted and perturbed by their participation, then he should have done the decent thing and declined the invitation in the first place citing his reasons and expending his intellect in an environment more conducive to his beliefs. He obviously anticipated that he would be addressing such a gathering and must therefore have been well aware of the discomfort and distress that his request would have caused.

This leads us onto the more important issue of why the presence of professional educated women would be deemed so distasteful. Unfortunately, it is incidents like this that lend fuel to the stereotype that Islam encourages the marginalization of women. Lest we forget, the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) was employed by Khadijah, a successful wealthy businesswoman who not only was his boss but later became his wife and the first follower of Islam. Indeed, he told his followers to take half of their religion from a woman, his wife Aisha. He never shunned, patronized or dismissed women as being an unimportant part of the community. On the contrary, he took every opportunity to elevate their status and commanded respect for them in their position as the mothers of society, affording them rights that were considered revolutionary at that time.

Allah Instructs Muslims to follow the example of the Prophet as he is perceived to be the embodiment of the Qur’an. He never discriminated on the basis of gender. How then can such intolerance of women be justified by a purportedly good believer? In the verses of the Qur’an men and women are addressed as equals and invited to worship on this basis. Does this mean that the mere presence of the fairer sex would prevent the good doctor from visiting the Grand Mosque in Makkah because in his estimation they “pollute” the environment? I think not. What makes my blood boil is on what basis the organizers of the conference asked the guests whom they had invited to leave. Evidently the attendees were not the ones with the issue. If the doctor was the one with the problem then he should have been politely asked to honor his commitment and present the paper to the gathering. If he continued to adhere to his nonsense ideology then he should have been the one evicted.

But the most troubling aspect to all of this is the fact that these qualified enlightened women complied with this ludicrous request. They had every right to be there. They were invited guests in a mixed conference and they should have stood their ground. I think it’s a great shame that they flinched in the face of such petty-mindedness, so freely relinquishing their rights because of the illogical preferences of a single man.

The fact that this bigoted medieval attitude was no doubt backed up by all the men present does not surprise me in the slightest. I have seen it so many times before. There are many so-called “educated” men who seem to keen to promote women’s rights in a glorious pretense but secretly enjoy the status quo. But then again, since when have men anywhere been keen to hand over women their rights on a silver platter? Such reluctance is not just peculiar to this part of the world but was prevalent in the West during the suffragette movement where women had to fight for their rights in order to get them. But they fought. If we want to be afforded our correct status, then we too have to suffer the consequences and be prepared to struggle.

I believe that Saudi women have got what it takes. The number of capable intelligent and educated women is growing, but they need to unite in the face of the diminishing power wielded by the correspondingly declining number of men who believe that they should be relegated to the periphery of society. Change is not borne out of apathy and indifference, but out of courage and forbearance. It’s about time that we rose to the challenge and demanded the rights that God afforded us over 1400 years ago.