Performer Alicia Keys projects a powerful position on women’s rights, hosting a regular Women to Women summit and posting inspirationally on Instagram on Friday for International Women’s Day. But the singer-songwriter’s message is undermined for some by the revelation that she is hosting the third edition of her summit this weekend in Saudi Arabia.

The American performer and her guests, including Pharrell Williams, best known for his worldwide hit Happy, are to discuss “how women are pushing the culture forward in Saudi Arabia and around the world”, she has announced, before the get-together in the coastal city of Jeddah.

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“I am thrilled to be back on stage, this time in Jeddah, performing in a place I have never performed in before, and in a way I never have in this region,” Keys said. “I’m also so inspired to connect in a meaningful way with the amazing women there to discuss cultural, creative and boundary-pushing narratives we are collectively and individually leading. In light of International Women’s Day, it’s the perfect time to discuss important issues affecting us.”

In response, human rights activists, including Peter Tatchell, have called on the 43-year-old star to boycott Saudi Arabia, a country that restricts women’s activities and persecutes several minority groups. “No artists should be going to Saudi unless they speak out publicly to demand women’s freedom and an end to other human rights abuses in the country, including the freeing of all political prisoners,” said Tatchell.

He added: “Alicia Keys and Pharrell Williams should not be performing in Saudi Arabia. It’s a dictatorship that persecutes women, LGBTs and religious and ethnic minorities. Women are in jail because of the country’s sexist laws. The regime murdered and dismembered the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.”

The women’s event is staged in conjunction with the country’s Formula One grand prix and is backed by Keys’ husband, the rapper and record producer Swizz Beatz, and his Good Intentions creative agency, as well as the international music platform MDLBeast. Keys will also sing with Williams before the grand prix.

“It is total hypocrisy for Saudi Arabia to host Alicia Keys for an International Women’s Day event when the regime jails advocates for women’s equality,” said Tatchell. “I’m shocked that she is colluding with this whitewashing of Saudi misogyny.”

The singer, whose childhood is the subject of the hit Broadway musical Hell’s Kitchen[https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/nov/19/hells-kitchen-alicia-keys-musical-review], is making her third visit to Saudi Arabia. Last year, she also held the Women to Women summit there in the city of AlUla.

Marking International Women’s Day on social media Keys said: “I want you to remove any ideas in your mind that you are not going to create the destiny that you believe in for yourself. I want you to remove that from your vocabulary, the word “not” or “can’t” or “won’t”, let’s get rid of that.”

• Human rights
• The Observer
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• International Women's Day
• Saudi Arabia
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