First Lady Michelle Obama Causes a Stir in Saudi Arabia

When Air force one landed back in Washington DC, the waiting press noticed that President of the United States of America, Barack Hussain Obama waved at them where as Michelle Obama kept her eyes low and didn’t look up at all. Obama held the first lady’s hand while walking out from Air Force one. The President and first lady both clearly looked tired from the long voyage. The previous day was spent in Saudi Arabia by the couple, where many government officials refused to shake hands with the First lady, as it was against their traditions. This came into news when the press noticed Michelle glaring at those officials who had rejected to shake hands with her at that time.

The main reason behind the visit was to offer their sympathies to the Royal family of King Abdullah for his demise. Along with that they met the new king of Riyadh, King Salmaan. During the whole trip, the first lady was found wearing conservative clothes which covered the complete body, but a head cover or head scarf was missing which is compulsory in Saudi Arabia. This was the reason behind Michelle Obama being unhappy with her trip to Saudi Arabia, because the absence of a head scarf caused such a storm on social media like twitter. Other female US officials were also reported previously of coming to Saudi Arabia without a head scarf, which includes Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton. In addition to that German chancellor Angela Merkel also had her head uncovered 2010. Obama and Michelle’s visit was of 5 hours in total, and due to this visit they had to cancel their previously planned visit to Taj Mahal in India.

The first lady was criticized by the overly-conservative people of Saudi Arabia and many other countries on social media. It is said that the tweet “Michelle Obama not veiled” was tweeted in Arabic more than 2500 times on twitter At the same time there were people who believe that we should follow the traditions of the country we set our foot in. In Saudi Arabia women can get whipped or sent to prison if they are without a veil. On the other hand, the people who support freedom of choice respected Michelle’s decision. Nobody had expected that Michelle Obama’s wardrobe choices would forcefully be turned into a political statement.

Before president Obama’s trip to Saudi Arabia, he talked about women’s rights in India, and the importance of women in society and development of countries, and then his visit to next country where his wife made a choice of not covering her head led to a social media blaze. The topic of rights of women in Saudi Arabia has always been controversial. No woman is allowed to drive a car, or ride a motor bike without the presence of a male guardian or male relative. They aren’t even allowed to open a bank account without their husband’s permission. The relationship between Saudi Arabia and USA has been good in the past few years as Saudi Arabia has been one of the most close friends of the US, but recently the debatable Human rights has been a reason for concern.