Muslim ERA watch

Hey, check it out! Saudi Arabian women are now allowed to sell cars! Except, well, when you read it, you see that they are only selling cars to other women. Which is a pretty bad deal, what with women still unable to drive in the theocracy.

Dec 3, 2006 (AP)— RIYADH, Saudi Arabia Saudi women still can’t drive cars, but they can sell them. Potential buyers can go to an all-women showroom where, for the first time, other women will help them choose a car and answer questions about horsepower, carburetors and other automotive features.

Neither the saleswomen nor the female buyers can take the car out for a test drive because women are banned from driving in Saudi Arabia even though they have been allowed to own cars for decades and hire male drivers. Almost half the autos belong to women.

Just in case you think things may be changing in the homeland of the world’s Wahabbi-exporting oil ticks, you would be wrong:

So touchy is the issue of women driving that people who previously called for dialogue about whether Saudi Arabia should remain the only Arab nation that bans female drivers have been largely silenced by a wave of condemnation from conservatives. Mindful of those sensitivities, the Riyadh car dealership that opened the all-women showroom asked that its name not be used.

The seven female saleswomen at the spacious showroom insist they aren’t pushing for female driving but only providing comfort for women who want to buy cars and don’t like to go to dealerships run by men. With the sexes segregated in schools, restaurants and banks, interaction between salesmen and women customers is awkward for many Saudis.

Say, tell me again how Islam is more feminist than the American feminist movement. Go ahead, pull the other leg.