{"id":4642,"date":"2025-05-20T15:01:41","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T15:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642"},"modified":"2025-05-21T09:14:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T09:14:13","slug":"saudi-arabias-head-of-human-rights-dispels-western-misconceptions-around-school-segregation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia\u2019s head of human rights dispels Western misconceptions around school segregation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There\u2019s a lot of noise<\/a> around gender-segregated education in Saudi Arabia. But the Kingdom\u2019s head of human rights says that if it wasn\u2019t for the system in place, many young girls would miss out on being educated\u2014herself included. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you that we received a lot of harsh criticism on segregating schools,\u201d H.E. Dr. Hala bint Mazyad Al-Tuwaijri said on stage in Riyadh at Fortune<\/em>\u2019s Most Powerful Women International Summit.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut actually, those of us who come from this part of the world know that if schools were mixed, many conservative families would not have sent their girls to school in the first place,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n

Al-Tuwaijri has been president of the Saudi Arabia Human Rights Commission, with the rank of minister, since September 2022. It\u2019s a job that, if it weren\u2019t for same-sex classes, she may not have been able to work up to.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of the educated women you see today, including myself, would not be sitting here because our families back then would not have accepted the fact that we’ll be sitting next to boys in high schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

Studying English literature prepared her for the global job<\/h2>\n

Before joining the world of work, Al-Tuwaijri earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in English literature in 1998, a master\u2019s degree in English literature and drama in 2004, and, in 2011, a Ph.D. in American literature and drama all from King Saud University. Looking back, she says the qualifications prepared her for her current role. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor people who know a bit about studying literature, it’s not about reading stories,\u201d Al-Tuwaijri said. \u201cActually, behind every story, there is a culture, history, philosophy, ideas \u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy focus has always been on the issue of identity,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat shapes people’s identity and what actually informs the literature they write, whether it’s theater, or performance, or art in general\u2014and that, of course, took me to study the sociopolitical context of these areas, and the ideas, and the philosophical background to where all of this is coming from and where it’s taking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, without knowing, I was actually preparing myself for looking into a more global platform of issues pertaining to identity, rights, stories, and all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

After graduating, Al-Tuwaijri joined KSU\u2019s staff as a lecturer and also worked as an assistant professor of English literature at the university. She worked her way up to vice chair of the English language department. <\/p>\n

Before becoming president of the Saudi Human Rights Commission, with the rank of minister, she was secretary-general of the Family Affairs Council.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy career has been crowned and honored by this great country and our wise leadership, who celebrated women, elevated their status, and paved the way for their advancement,\u201d she told Arab News<\/em><\/a> soon after the appointment.<\/p>\n

Of her new role, Al-Tuwaijri said: \u201cSaudi Arabia has made great and honorable strides in the field of human rights, and the testimony of just countries and organizations is the best proof.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a lot of noise around gender-segregated education in Saudi Arabia. But the Kingdom\u2019s head of human rights says that if it wasn\u2019t for the system in place, many young…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":271,"featured_media":4643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[5918,5919,1082,5920,1083,2486,3156,5921,618],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nSaudi Arabia\u2019s head of human rights dispels Western misconceptions around school segregation - Frisco Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cMany of the educated women you see today, including myself, would not be sitting here," H.E. Dr. Hala bint Mazyad Al-Tuwaijri said at Fortune's Most Powerful Women.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saudi Arabia\u2019s head of human rights dispels Western misconceptions around school segregation - Frisco Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cMany of the educated women you see today, including myself, would not be sitting here," H.E. Dr. Hala bint Mazyad Al-Tuwaijri said at Fortune's Most Powerful Women.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Frisco Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-20T15:01:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-21T09:14:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/54532861236_c025081d95_6k-e1747752680173.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Orianna Rosa Royle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@FriscoTimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@FriscoTimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Orianna Rosa Royle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Orianna Rosa Royle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#\/schema\/person\/a6a10b287f6d124d4dbdcc7ad450c1aa\"},\"headline\":\"Saudi Arabia\u2019s head of human rights dispels Western misconceptions around school segregation\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-20T15:01:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-21T09:14:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642\"},\"wordCount\":529,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/54532861236_c025081d95_6k-e1747752680173.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Arabias\",\"dispels\",\"human\",\"misconceptions\",\"rights\",\"Saudi\",\"school\",\"segregation\",\"Western\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642\",\"name\":\"Saudi Arabia\u2019s head of human rights dispels Western misconceptions around school segregation - Frisco Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/54532861236_c025081d95_6k-e1747752680173.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-20T15:01:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-21T09:14:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"\u201cMany of the educated women you see today, including myself, would not be sitting here," H.E. Dr. Hala bint Mazyad Al-Tuwaijri said at Fortune's Most Powerful Women.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/54532861236_c025081d95_6k-e1747752680173.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/54532861236_c025081d95_6k-e1747752680173.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Saudi Arabia\u2019s head of human rights dispels Western misconceptions around school segregation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/\",\"name\":\"Frisco Times\",\"description\":\"Your Gateway to San Francisco's Stories\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Frisco Times\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/cropped-\u5fae\u4fe1\u622a\u56fe_20240625172131.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/cropped-\u5fae\u4fe1\u622a\u56fe_20240625172131.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Frisco Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/FriscoTimes\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/friscotimes\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#\/schema\/person\/a6a10b287f6d124d4dbdcc7ad450c1aa\",\"name\":\"Orianna Rosa Royle\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Orianna Rosa Royle\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?author=271\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Saudi Arabia\u2019s head of human rights dispels Western misconceptions around school segregation - Frisco Times","description":"\u201cMany of the educated women you see today, including myself, would not be sitting here," H.E. Dr. Hala bint Mazyad Al-Tuwaijri said at Fortune's Most Powerful Women.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Saudi Arabia\u2019s head of human rights dispels Western misconceptions around school segregation - Frisco Times","og_description":"\u201cMany of the educated women you see today, including myself, would not be sitting here," H.E. Dr. Hala bint Mazyad Al-Tuwaijri said at Fortune's Most Powerful Women.","og_url":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642","og_site_name":"Frisco Times","article_published_time":"2025-05-20T15:01:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-05-21T09:14:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/54532861236_c025081d95_6k-e1747752680173.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Orianna Rosa Royle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@FriscoTimes","twitter_site":"@FriscoTimes","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Orianna Rosa Royle","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642"},"author":{"name":"Orianna Rosa Royle","@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#\/schema\/person\/a6a10b287f6d124d4dbdcc7ad450c1aa"},"headline":"Saudi Arabia\u2019s head of human rights dispels Western misconceptions around school segregation","datePublished":"2025-05-20T15:01:41+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-21T09:14:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642"},"wordCount":529,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/54532861236_c025081d95_6k-e1747752680173.jpg","keywords":["Arabias","dispels","human","misconceptions","rights","Saudi","school","segregation","Western"],"articleSection":["Business"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642","url":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642","name":"Saudi Arabia\u2019s head of human rights dispels Western misconceptions around school segregation - Frisco Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/54532861236_c025081d95_6k-e1747752680173.jpg","datePublished":"2025-05-20T15:01:41+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-21T09:14:13+00:00","description":"\u201cMany of the educated women you see today, including myself, would not be sitting here," H.E. Dr. Hala bint Mazyad Al-Tuwaijri said at Fortune's Most Powerful Women.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/54532861236_c025081d95_6k-e1747752680173.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/54532861236_c025081d95_6k-e1747752680173.jpg","width":1200,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4642#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Saudi Arabia\u2019s head of human rights dispels Western misconceptions around school segregation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/","name":"Frisco Times","description":"Your Gateway to San Francisco's Stories","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#organization","name":"Frisco Times","url":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/cropped-\u5fae\u4fe1\u622a\u56fe_20240625172131.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/cropped-\u5fae\u4fe1\u622a\u56fe_20240625172131.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Frisco Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/FriscoTimes","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/friscotimes\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#\/schema\/person\/a6a10b287f6d124d4dbdcc7ad450c1aa","name":"Orianna Rosa Royle","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&r=g","caption":"Orianna Rosa Royle"},"url":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?author=271"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4642"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/271"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4642"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4644,"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4642\/revisions\/4644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}