Invisible Saudi Girl

Way back in Febuary the absolute Monarch of the all original He Man Women Hater Kingdom - the latest in a long line of despots - the King Abdullah chose Noura Al-Faiz as deputy minister for education, the highest post a chick has ever held in Wahabbi Saudi Land!

The appointment was hailed far and wide as a sign of Saudi Arabia reforming its government and its stance of women's rights - TIME Magazine even named al-Faiz to its TIME 100.

Perhaps that excitement climaxed prematurely:

Noura al-Faiz today confounded advocates of greater equality when she said she could not appear on TV without permission.

"I don't take my veil off and I will not appear on television unless it is allowed for us to do so," she told the daily Shams newspaper, which published a picture of Faiz wearing a headscarf with her face showing.

"She also dismissed calls for girls to be allowed to do sport at school. "It's way too early."

"At the time she said she was confident her appointment was not tokenism and that other women would be appointed to government jobs. Sceptics wondered, however, whether the new minister would wield any real power, or whether she would suffer the fate of other women who had been appointed to lower councils and sunk without trace."

Maybe Time Magazine shoulda reconsidered when they couldn't find a decent pic of Noura.

Art - "Invisible Girl" by Alfred Liman