Al-Faiz, Norah

Norah al-Faiz is Saudi Arabia's Deputy Minister for Women's Education. She is the first woman to hold a cabinet ministry position in the country's history. Her appointment was widely hailed as evidence of King Abdullah's reformist goals, but some feminists, skeptical of how much power will actually be given to a woman, caution against seeing the appointment as the beginning of significant advances in women's rights. al-Faiz also has been careful not to present herself as a challenger of Saudi conservatism.

al-Faiz graduated from King Saud University in Riyadh in 1978 with a baccalaureate degree in sociology. She did graduate work in the United States, earning a master's in education from Utah State University in 1982. She worked as a teacher in Saudi Arabia before moving into school administration. al-Faiz served as head principal of the girls’ section at Prince Al Waleed bin Talal's Kingdom Schools and as controller of education techniques at the Institute of Private Education under the Ministry of Education. Before her appointment to the new ministry position, al-Faiz was the director general of the women's section at the Institute of Public Administration in Riyadh, a position she had held since 2001. al-Faiz is married and has five children, two daughters and three sons.

Reformers welcomed the appointment of al-Faiz to the highest position ever achieved by a woman in Saudi Arabia, but Wajeha al-Huwaider, writer and activist, suggested that al-Faiz's appointment was a small step. Banned from publishing because of her championship of women's rights, al-Huwaider noted that Saudi Arabia still maintains a guardianship system that requires women to have the permission of a male relative to work, travel, study, marry, or gain access to healthcare and other public services. In [Page 52]2009, the United Nations Human Rights Council urged the Saudi government to allow women these basic rights and not have agencies secure male permission on their behalf.

al-Faiz's early pronouncements signal that she expects to accommodate to the existing system. It was not until 2002 that female education was placed under the administration of the Ministry of Education, a move that sparked considerable protest from Islamic fundamentalists.

Although al-Faiz said her position as deputy minister is an achievement for all Saudi women and expects women to have access to her office, she also has announced that she will wear a veil, use video technology to meet with male colleagues, and appear on television only with her minister's permission. She refused to have a photograph taken for Time magazine when the publication named her among 2009's most influential people in the world. She has said that her concern is with women's education, and even within the parameters of that field, al-Faiz has refused to support the call for sports in girls schools. She has reiterated her belief in gradual reform and her unease with hasty action.