Mai Yamani, daughter of former Saudi oil minister Ahmad Zaki Yamani strolls with her daughter through old Jiddah, where windows are latticed to shield the women from view. “I’m a Saudi woman,” she says. “I like my veil.”
—From “Women of Saudi Arabia,” October 1987, National Geographic magazine
Flush with wealth from its oil fields, Oman has catapulted from an Arabian Peninsula backwater to a modern nation while managing to keep many of its traditions alive.
Peer behind the veil and enter the lives of Saudi Arabian women in this photo gallery that explores how these women of tradition are adapting as their society modernizes.
