It's amazing how much subtext you can pack into a single word. Consider this recent announcement by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia: "Women will be able to run as candidates in the municipal elections and will even have the right to vote."
Well, hurray.
On the other hand, you could easily accuse the 87-year-old monarch of dragging his feet on reform, because he waited until this year's municipal elections were almost upon the country (they were held on Thursday) before announcing that women could vote the next time, in 2015. Boo.