Ladies Of Leisure

With its own bell-women and female management team the hotel aims to take advantage of a new rule allowing women in Saudi Arabia to stay in hotels without a male chaperon. For the women it's a chance to relax in a women-only setting and as they do so, Felicity explores their lives and experiences.

Some see Saudi Arabia's first women-only hotel is a sign or progress - a place where women can conduct business without interference in a male dominated society.

Until recently women couldn't check into any hotel unless accompanied by a male family member or with permission from a male guardian. But others say the new hotel simply reinforces gender segregation in a nation which doesn't even let women drive.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.

The lives of women in Saudi Arabia are explored by Felicity Finch in a women-only hotel.