“This is great news,” said Saudi writer and women’s rights activist Wajeha al-Huwaider, in an article written by Asma Alsharif on Reuters.com. “Women’s voices will finally be heard,” al-Huwaider said.

But the women’s right to vote in Saudi Arabia wasn’t the only news which made headlines from the Middle East in the past month for the females who live in those countries.

A couple weeks after, on Oct. 7, Tawakkul Karman, a 32-year-old Yemeni mother of three, became the first Arab woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. In an article at nytimes.com, Karman said, “This is a victory for Arabs around the world. And it will end the dictatorship of Ali Abdullah Saleh,” Yemen’s longtime president who’s facing daily protests to knock his 33-year regime down.

Karman is an outspoken human rights activist and was unknown outside her own country of Yemen until she began leading anti-government protests this year. Karman now has become the leading member of the largest Islamist party, Islah. The Nobel citation, which awarded not only Karman but two other females the Nobel Peace Prize this year, made it clear that female empowerment was the primary message.

So why make all of this a big deal, you may ask? Well, maybe because this is something I, nor any other Arab Muslim, would have ever thought of hearing because of the gender inequality that goes on in those Middle Eastern countries.

In Saudi Arabia, women still face scrutiny with their social rights even after being granted the right to vote. Women in Saudi Arabia are still banned to receive a driver’s license from their own country. Also, women in Saudi Arabia must have written approval from a male guardian — a father, husband, brother or son — to leave the country, work or even undergo certain medical operations.

In Yemen, the gender inequality is only worse, as woman are facing issues with their voices being heard even in their own households, let alone by their government.

So now women have the right to vote in Saudi Arabia, and Karman has won the Nobel Peace Prize, which means only one thing for the women who are trying to make their voices be heard; changes can happen if you really put forth the effort.

The fact both of these major events happened in corresponding fashion, according to historic measures, should open up the doors and gates for many females, especially those who are Muslim, to make their voices be heard across the world. But note that it took time and it took the idea of doing something different, which made these events really historic. So when you females try to make your opinion matter, make sure you first have patience and then ask yourself not what you are going to do the same, but what you are going to do differently that’s going to make a difference.

With my ancestry being from the same as Karman’s, which is Yemeni; I think I not only speak for myself but all Yemeni people when I say it feels great to read about a woman making the news for a good reason once out of the blue. Where as every other day, Yemen is on the news for things like being linked to Al-Qaeda or how the country is about to enter a civil war. What Karman accomplished has not only had an influence on the Arab females of this world, but also myself, as I now know you can achieve anything in this world if you really set your mind to it. I don’t have to be in the country of Yemen to understand that Karman’s news has had a ripple effect on the people of her country and all around it.

Omar Thabet is a State News guest columnist and journalism sophomore. Reach him at thabetom@msu.edu.