The First Woman Swimming in Saudi Arabia

She is a BBC reporter called Rachel Reid:

The women of Saudi Arabia are not just folded away behind swathes of hot black cloth, they live segregated lives, ushered out of the all-male public spaces into so called "family" areas,[...] So the idea of women swimming in public was laughable.

Undeterred, I wrote a slightly uppity e-mail to the manager of the hotel, protesting that whatever discrimination I expected in the country, I didn't expect it in an international hotel, and asking how he could justify charging me the same price for a lesser service.

I suggested that he could arrange a single sex time for women to swim. I even offered to swim in my abaya.

To my surprise, he agreed to my request. The pool would be mine between six and seven in the morning.

So, wishing I had someone to witness me swimming in cloak and goggles, I arrived for my swim, at dawn.

The night manager of the leisure centre, Walid, was waiting for me, in a state of nervous excitement.

"Good morning madam," he said. "We have everything ready for you. We have cordoned off the pool, placed screens all around."

"So if you have everything you need I shall lock you out here so that you won't be disturbed."

He paused for a moment with his keys, and fixed me with a conspiratorial look.

"I have to congratulate you, Madam, I think you are the first woman to swim in public in all Saudi Arabia!"
Phicture from Rachel's profile on Blogspot.com

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The First Woman Swimming in Saudi Arabia

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