Saudi Arabia Women: Rights Groups Hopeful as First Women Are Appointed to Shura Council by King Abdullah

In a historic move, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has appointed 30 women to his Shura Council, the first time the gender barrier has been broken in the advisory group.

"The decrees, published by the official SPA news agency on Friday, give women a 20 percent quota in the Shura Council, a body appointed by the king to advise him on policy and legislation," writes Al Jazeera. "One decree amended an article in the council's statute to give women representation on the body, while the other named the 150 members, among them 30 women."

Abdullah has instituted slow reforms over the years, introducing elections for local government in 2005 and extending enfranchisement to women in 2011. Women will be able to vote for the first time in the 2015 elections.

Whether the women on the Shura Council, who were handpicked by Abdullah, will be able to influence his to extend more rights to women remains to be seen.

""It's a step forward but they are appointed, not elected," said Eman Al Nafjan, a Saudi writer and blogger to CNN. "I don't believe we'll see any substantial change except in the mind-set of conservatives. It'll be interesting to see how they'll react to having women on the Shura Council."

And without gender equality in other aspects of everyday life, how can these women be expected to do their jobs well, wonder other critics.

"I think it's not enough," said Wajeha Al-Huwaider, a women's rights activist in Saudi Arabia.

"It's not going to affect our lives as ordinary women -- our daily life, going to work, finding a job, getting an education. We're still struggling with the guardianship law. Women are still not allowed to drive. We'll have representatives on the Shura Council who can't even go there without a driver."

Women are also not allowed to work or travel outside the country without the written permission of a male relative. Without basic protections and autonomy for women, nothing prevents a male relative from prohibiting one of the new Shura Council members from attending a meeting. Likewise, while women can technically vote, many will be unable to venture out to a polling place without prior consent.