In the Land of Invisible Women

In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom by Qanta Ahmed, Sourcebooks, 2008.

Pakistani Doctor

The author of this memoir is a Pakistani Muslim doctor. While living in New York City, she completed residencies and fellowships in Internal Medicine, Pulmonology, Critical Care and Sleep Disorders. 

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s oil wealth has allowed many of its men to travel abroad and become more cosmopolitan and liberal. The educated, professional Saudi men who have travelled abroad favor the emancipation of women, as does much of the royal family, but they are afraid of the religious police (Mutaween) and the Wahabbi clerics. In the 1950s women were allowed to go about town uncovered, but now that Saudi society had become more conservative, women must wear the Abbayah when outside their homes. 

The author was treated very respectfully at the King Fahad National Guard Hospital in Riyadh, where she worked for two years. When male Saudi doctors arrive at the patient’s bedside, they expect female doctors to behave deferentially. Most doctors in Saudi Arabia are expats. 

Her Islam

Her Islam is about egalitarianism and a personal relationship with God. She perceives the misogyny and anti-Semitism in Saudi Arabia to be the fault of ignorant bigots, and not intrinsic to Islam. Some Saudis thought she was a servant, because of her dark skin. The Saudis favor themselves over other Arabs and Muslims. Only 7% of the people of Saudi Arabia are Bedouin nomads. None of the Bedouin families that she treated objected to her being female.