Saudi Arabia is preparing to send a woman into space. A first for the kingdom, which until six years ago banned Saudi women from driving a car.

At 33 years old, Rayyanah Barnawi is the symbol of this lightning emancipation of women in Saudi Arabia. A place is reserved for him, Tuesday, May 9 at 2:43 GMT (4:43 a.m., French time), in the SpaceX rocket to carry four astronauts, including two Saudi nationals, to the International Space Station (ISS) from Cape Canaveral, in the United States.

🇸🇦 Two Saudi astronauts will fly from Florida to the International Space Station on May 8. Rayana Barnawi researcher will become the first Saudi woman to go into space, she will be accompanied by Ali Al-Qarni, a fighter pilot pic.twitter.com/GvEj4P9C8P

— Hervé Doumbia (@almouslime) April 6, 2023

This ten-day private mission is organized by Axiom Space. This is the second trip to the ISS planned by this American company. A first, Ax-1, took three businessmen and a former astronaut to spend two weeks aboard the ISS in April 2022.

Rayyanah Barnawi will be accompanied by Ali al-Qarni, a Saudi fighter pilot, Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut who has already visited the ISS three times, and John Shoffner, an American entrepreneur, who will be the pilot.

Go #Ax2! https://t.co/potoYUYdqo pic.twitter.com/OQ9JUxikcM

— Axiom Space (@Axiom_Space) May 5, 2023

A new generation of Saudi women

The objective of this short mission, led by the highly experienced Peggy Whitson, is to conduct scientific research, for which Rayyanah Barnawi was chosen. A graduate in biomedical sciences from the University of Otago in New Zealand and Alfaisal University in Riyadh, the Saudi astronaut has more than nine years of experience in cancer stem cell research.

"Rayyanah Barnawi is the symbol of this generation of Saudi women trained abroad in the last ten years, sometimes in very prestigious universities, who return to Riyadh and are propelled to positions of high responsibility," said Arnaud Lacheret, author of "Women are the future of the Gulf. What Arab modernity says about us" (ed. The Waterfront).

بإصرار يدفعه الشغف... نستعد لرحلة نحو الفضاء في سبيل العلم والإنسانية.
السعودية #نحو_الفضاء 🇸🇦 pic.twitter.com/HHpm4vZ8wY

— RAYYANAH BARNAWI (@Astro_Rayyanah) April 9, 2023

Professor at Skema Business School and head of an MBA in Dubai a few years ago, Arnaud Lacheret has seen the arrival in his classes of Saudi women in their thirties from the middle classes, who came to train late after the opening of the job market to women in Saudi Arabia. Until 2012, Saudi women were only allowed to work in jobs out of sight, including in offices or shops.

>> Read also: In Saudi Arabia, women conquer the labor market

Since then, everything has accelerated and the share of women in the workforce reached 37% in 2022, an increase in all sectors, including defence and security. "About ten years ago, certain fields, especially scientific ones, did not exist for these women. The only way for them to study engineering or technology was to go abroad. Girls from the wealthiest families have gone all the way to Europe and the United States and return more educated than their male peers," says the researcher about this generation of women in their thirties and overgraduates. "The men of this generation stayed in Saudi Arabia where they did not need to do higher education to enter the job market."

Political communication plan

Back home, these Saudi women now benefit from incentives as part of a vast modernization strategy to open up the kingdom and diversify its economy. Rayyanah Barnawi's journey into space is also part of the "Vision 2030" plan, a broad program of economic and social reforms initiated by the powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

As part of its human spaceflight program, the country is also training two other astronauts, including a woman, Mariam Fardous.

But this is not the first expedition of its kind for the oil-rich state. In 1985, Saudi Prince Sultan bin Salman participated in a US NASA Discovery mission.

For Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, criticized for the severe repression of his opponents, especially feminist activists, it is above all a question of restoring his image.

>> READ ALSO: "Turning Saudi Arabia into a dream tourist destination will take a long time"

"Women are really highlighted in the world of work, but the project is also clearly fueled by political communication," says Arnaud Lacheret. A reality that does not make us forget the persistent inequalities between men and women. "There are always male privileges and a man will succeed more easily in the world of work, even with fewer degrees."

Not to mention the male guardianship system. It is largely relaxed, but still in place in the country, and is still a vector of discrimination for women, as Amnesty International recently highlighted in a report published in March. Human rights activist Lina al-Hathloul shared this observation. "Women are considered minors until the end of their lives," she told Vanity Fair in January. "Obviously, now they can drive or study but that does not mean that the basis of this system is destroyed. Honestly, we can expect a lot as long as we keep quiet. Women can be pilots or astronauts, as long as they continue to be submissive. You just have to come across the right family that allows them to do things. It's really the lottery."

Her sister, feminist activist Loujain al-Hathloul, was locked up for more than 1,000 days in a Saudi prison before being released in 2021 and says she was sexually harassed and tortured. She remains under the yoke of a ban on leaving the country.

Most recently, in January, Salma al-Shehab, a doctoral student and mother of two, was sentenced on appeal to 27 years in prison for retweeting dissident messages, including tweets by Loujain al-Hathloul calling for her sister's release.

With AFP

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