Ladies First

We may think we know what it is like to be a woman in Saudi Arabia. Women must all cover up in public. Women cannot drive nor can they travel without the permission of a man. Women are restricted in work, and study, and social activities. But Saudi women, like women anywhere, are dreamers and fighters, eager to have a voice. The New York Times’ Mona El-Naggar takes us inside the kingdom and introduces us to three proud and dynamic women, each determined to test the bounds of her society in different ways. The setting is a city council election in Riyadh, where in 2015 Saudi women were allowed to vote and run for office for the first time. While they could finally participate, though, they could not actually campaign in public. Ladies First offers a riveting and intimate view of the complex and largely inaccessible world of Saudi women, chronicling this remarkable first effort of women to claim a place on the political stage of their nation.