In Saudi Arabia, where women have struggled to succeed in a business world that often shuts them out, many are looking to Ivanka Trump as an example of how to succeed as a woman.<\/b>
\nThe top trending Twitter hashtag in Saudi Arabia on Saturday wasn\u2019 t visiting President Trump or even first lady Melania Trump. Instead, Saudis were abuzz about #binttrump \u2014 Arabic for \u201c Trump \u2019s daughter, \u201d Ivanka.
Saudi Arabia\u2019s fascination with Ivanka Trump highlights how far women have advanced in the kingdom, and how much further they have to go.
She is an Orthodox Jew, having converted when she married New York real estate developer and editor Jared Kushner, but that\u2019s not a sticking point with Arab men and women in this Sunni Muslim country. They see the president\u2019s eldest daughter, more than her siblings, as a reflection of and credit to her father.
\u201cUsually in Saudi, when we like somebody, especially in the hierarchy of the royals, we call them Abu, \u201d or father of, said businessman Ahmed Ibrahim. \u201cWith President Trump, when we want to mention how great he is, we say \u2018Abu Ivanka,\u2019 we don\u2019 t say \u2018Abu Eric.\u2019 She\u2019s amazing. I think she\u2019s going to have a lot of fun over here. A lot of ladies are excited to meet her. She represents smartness and style.\u201d
Tracking Ivanka Trump\u2019s visit in a country with one of the highest per capita rates of social media consumption, he said, has \u201cbecome a social trend, \u201d from hashtags to Facebook timelines and WhatsApp posts.
Ivanka Trump is viewed as accomplished in so many ways, that \u201cwhen you mention that in front of Saudi women, they get jealous, \u201d Ibrahim said. \u201cMy wife sometimes, when I say Ivanka, she gives me this look.\u201d
Saudis watched on state television Saturday as Ivanka Trump strode at her husband\u2019s side down a red carpet to meet the royal court, striking up animated conversations with the Saudi delegation during a tea ceremony. She and Melania Trump were not expected to wear head scarves \u2014 Michelle Obama and Laura Bush didn\u2019 t, nor did German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Theresa May. The first daughter\u2019s long black, white and maroon dress got rave reviews online, especially among men.
Hatoon Kadi, a female comedian on the popular YouTube channel UTurn, said her Facebook timeline was replete with men gushing about Ivanka Trump.
\u201cLadies are telling them chill. We don\u2019 t do this. It\u2019s like you have never seen a pretty lady in your life. Come on!\u201d Kadi said. \u201cSome of the guys are telling the photographers please concentrate on her.\u201d
Kadi planned to attend a Twitter event in Riyadh on Sunday that was on the president\u2019s schedule, and expected to see Ivanka Trump there. She was hoping to snap a selfie with Ivanka Trump and post it just to stoke her male friends\u2019 jealousy.
\u201cI\u2019 m going to have lots of material for my next episode, \u201d she predicted.
Among those registering to participate in the Twitter event was Kholood Alomairi, 21, who\u2019s studying marketing innovation and technology at a local university. Last semester, she did a case study about Ivanka Trump.
\u201cShe\u2019s very classy. She has 100 percent confidence, \u201d Alomairi said Saturday, adding that if she has the chance to talk to her, \u201cI would ask for her advice in life: What are the things she wants to accomplish?\u201d
Ivanka Trump is an aspirational icon for many Saudi women: traditional wife and mother of three, balancing not just a career but also a family business many women here relate to because the only way for them to get ahead was to rely on a support network, chiefly their fathers.
\u201cIn Saudi Arabia, the culture is stacked against you to become a successful woman with a long career. A lot of these women have successful fathers who mentor them, give them jobs in their businesses, \u201d said Muna AbuSulayman, host of the popular Saudi talk show \u201cSoftly Speaking.\u201d \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of similarities between her and successful women in Saudi Arabia.\u201d
The kingdom has women in leadership roles at the stock exchange, banks, newspapers and ministries. Most come from powerful families that helped them flourish. AbuSulayman said many here see Ivanka Trump working with her father in the White House as chipping in, \u201cproviding support.\u201d
\u201cShe\u2019s like us, \u201d AbuSulayman said.
And yet, she isn\u2019 t.
Hoda Helassi, one of the first 30 women appointed to the 150-member consultative council to the monarchy four years ago, noted that unlike Ivanka Trump, Saudi women still face major obstacles, including being barred from driving, free travel and participation in the workplace. But they are making progress, she said.
\u201cWhat is going to change attitudes and society and the makeup of its fibers is young people and the economy. No longer can households survive on one salary, \u201d Helassi said, and women have started marrying later and having fewer children. \u201cWe need to find our own modernity, incorporating with it our values and our traditions.\u201d
Although small changes have been made recently to the country\u2019s male guardianship system, it still requires women to obtain approval from a male relative to travel overseas, get a passport or marry. There are separate female public spaces, and even a concert held as part of Saturday\u2019s festivities, headlined by American country singer Toby Keith, was men only.
molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com
Twitter: @mollyhf
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