Every rule has an exception, especially when there’s a medical emergency. Unfortunately a woman died in Saudi Arabia last week when a Riyadh university put a rule about gender segregation ahead human life.
King Saud University administrators delayed treatment to a female grad student suffering a heart attack when they hesitated to allow an all-male team of paramedics to enter the women-only campus.
The rule is said to come from Sauda Arabia’s strict prohibition of the mixing of genders in public places because of religious beliefs. But students shocked by this incident insist it’s not the intention of that rule or Islam to prevent “saving a human being from imminent death.”
Strict and illogical enforcement of the sex segregation rules is costing lives - not only in this case but in 2002 when girls trapped in a school fire were not allowed to escape because they weren’t wearing headscarves or abayas.
King Saud students are calling for an investigation and measures to prevent tragedies like this from happening again.
Tell the Saudi Education Ministry to let male paramedics save female students’ lives!
We, the undersigned, say Saudi Arabia should find a sensible solution to gender separation laws to prevent deaths like the one that occurred at King Saud University.
Though it is uncertain who is responsible for the delay in paramedics treating the student who suffered the heart attack, news reports agree that there was at least a half-hour - some say over an hour - delay in getting her the assistance needed that could have saved her life. It is believed that female administrators at the college didn’t call for help immediately because of the segregation laws.
If gender segregation laws are so strictly enforced that female administrators at colleges and schools would put students at risk of death for fear of breaking those laws, then clearly those laws need to be amended or not so rigidly enforced.
Some students protesting this tragedy told the press they believe school administrators should be held accountable for the student’s death. Professors at King Saud University are insisting on an investigation.
Others offered logical solutions that the government should consider, especially as long as male paramedics are restricted from female campuses - including setting up college clinics that can handle emergencies and having female paramedics available.
We request a full investigation of this incident and policy changes to prevent a tragedy like this from ever occurring again.
