Equal but different? Yeah, right

The UN wants Saudi Arabia to give rights to women:

Women in Saudi Arabia should be allowed more basic freedoms, according to a UN anti-discrimination committee.

It says the practice of needing a man’s permission to marry, work, travel or be educated should end. In a report, the committee also says there should be more laws offering protection to women.

But the Saudi government, in submissions before the report was published, said there was no discrimination against women.

If the Saudi government thinks anyone will believe that, they are more stupid than I thought. But apparently the Saudis have strange ideas about equality:

Overall the UN is very critical of Saudi Arabia’s approach to women’s rights. It even expresses concern about the Saudi state’s understanding of the idea of equality - saying similar rights for men and women is not the same as equal rights.

Equal but different, eh? Isn’t that what the apologists for apartheid said?

It might be a good idea for UN states to impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia. Doing so would not be enormously effective, since Saudi’s main export is oil. But it would be a signal that their social attitudes are not considered acceptable by civilised people.