“The general image of the Arab woman is that she isn’t happy…Well, we’re all pretty happy.”

Karen Hughes, under secretary of state for public diplomacy, was confronted yesterday by an audience of educated Arab women who don’t want to be “liberated” by the Bush administration. Hughes suggested in her remarks that Saudi women should be allowed to drive and fully participate in their country. Audience members drawn from the student body of Dar Al-Hekma (a liberal institution) rejected her remarks as disconnected from their personal experience, suggesting that the Bush administration’s negative image in the Arab world may present an obstacle to needed dialogue about civil participation and women’s rights in the region.

llouison