In an unprecedented move, Saudi Arabian women went out on the streets of the capital Riyadh without their traditional black abaya, or over-garment, while some of them removed their hijab (hair cover) entirely. The move caused wild controversy in the conservative kingdom.

It was Saudi woman Mashael Al-Jaloud who first broke the tradition. In July, she tried to enter a mall in Riyadh without the black robe or hair cover. The mall management didn’t allow her in. Al-Jaloud took to Twitter to protest the ban, writing: “I was not allowed to enter the Riyadh Park in a decent attire. Thank you.”

The mall management tweeted back: “Welcome dear Mashael… We apologise for not allowing into the mall people who do not conform to public morality.”

Al-Jaloud posted a video explaining what she did. The video has stirred wide debate, the most of which was directed against her “provocative” move. Some people went as far as demanding she be tried according to the “Basic Law of Governance,” the Saudi equivalent of a constitution.

In Al-Jaloud’s defence, many people said on social media that she was a Palestinian residing in Saudi Arabia.

Others, including lawyers, said Article 6 of the Basic Law of Governance stated that non-Saudi residents in the kingdom were required to conform to the country’s law and “respect the values of the Saudi community”.

Article 6, concerning cybercrimes, punishes those who produce, save or send material that threatens the public order, religious values or invade private lives. The penalty is five years in prison, a fine not exceeding three million Saudi riyals, or both.

Al-Jaloud, who went out in an orange blouse and white baggy trousers, said it was not easy for her to make the move. It was “bold and difficult to go out without a robe in a society that is very religiously uptight”.

She added, “I took the initiative based on what Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman told a US television network. He said women had the right to choose their attire and go out just as much as men.”

Despite the controversy Al-Jaloud stirred, she was not stopped by the religious police, or the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice as it is publicly known.

“This is a great development in its own right,” said Torki Al-Hamad, a Saudi Arabian writer and academic with liberal leanings.

“In most cases, laws and administrative, economic and political developments take place before society gets used to them, which can take long years,” he told Al-Ahram Weekly.

“Everyone has the right to choose what they wear. This doesn’t hurt anyone, but in the majority of countries there are restrictions on dress codes,” he added.

Tens of countries have imposed dress and hair codes for men and women, as well as other codes that may affect their daily lives. These codes are usually derived from the morality system prevalent in society.

The Saudi community has seen several incidents contesting the obligation to wear a certain attire. Many women participated in campaigns to “wear the black over-garment inside out”. Such initiatives were positively received by people such as those who applauded Al-Jaloud.

“Others believe taking the hijab off is in defiance not only of society’s traditions but of God’s Sharia. How would those perceive a woman going out without the hijab, face cover, or traditional garment,” asked Al-Hamad, who was previously heavily criticised for publishing a historical story glorifying a woman who led the resistance against the Turks

Al-Hamad is known for lauding the social reforms the speed of which have accelerated since Bin Salman was named crown prince two years ago. The young prince “made the impossible possible”, Al-Hamad would repeatedly say.

The Saudi community has seen major social developments recently, such as allowing women to drive and travel without the permission of men and to attend sports events. Social changes included holding concerts and opening cinemas. It is also now possible for women, as much as men, to report deaths, marriages and divorces.

Since December 2014, Saudi women have been granted five seats in parliament. The decision was one of King Abdullah Bin Abdel-Aziz’s latest before he died.

For the first time in the kingdom, Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul-Aziz appointed Rima Bint Bandar the kingdom’s ambassador in Washington. Rima is the daughter of ambassador Bandar Bin Sultan, who served as Saudi ambassador in Washington when George Bush Jr was in office

Despite the social reforms, most of the Saudi people’s social choices remain conservative, which is somewhat normal for a country that adopted extreme interpretations of Islam for decades.

Bin Salman told the US magazine The Atlantic that Riyadh was mistaken for adopting a tight religious policy on the domestic and foreign fronts since 1979, even though the kingdom needed to have more lenient leanings.

Many observers believe Saudi Arabia adopted such a conservative approach since 1979 in response to the Iranian Revolution and its Shia leaning, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Islamists’ resistance to the communist government loyal to the Soviets in Kabul, and the attack of Juhayman Al-Otaybi, a Saudi militant and soldier who in 1979 led the seizure of the Great Mosque of Mecca.

Riyadh, however, is not only opening up on the domestic front. The kingdom has cooperated with Shia leaders in Iraq, such as Muqtada Al-Sadr, and premiers the likes of Haidar Al-Abadi and Adel Abdul-Mahdi, to take them off the Iranian course.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 19 September, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.