First women sworn into Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council

In a first for the conservative Islamic state, women have been sworn into the Shura Council in a ceremony before King Abdallah in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
The thirty women will now sit alongside 130 male colleagues in the advisory body.

The King appointed the women on January 11, after consulting Saudi religious leaders.

The group includes university graduates, human rights activists and two princesses.

The monarch has been gradually introducing changes to the strict Saudi version of Islamic law in the hopes that gradual change will increasingly allow for “reason” to prevail in all Council decisions.

His decision marked the start of a transition period in a kingdom whose laws had previously forbidden women to engage in things like voting or traveling without the consent of a male guardian.