( CNN ) -- What could be bigger than the appointment of the first female minister in Saudi Arabia ? Saudi King Abdullah made more than one noteable appointment to his council of ministers . Possibly the appointment of a new minister of justice who may actually help her get equal rights with her male counterpart . Right now , Norah al-Faiz , the new deputy minister for women 's education , is bound by the same laws as every other woman in the land . She can do only what her closest male relative permits . For many women of her status and education , that law is interpreted liberally , but for the vast majority , it is not . Over the weekend , at a single stroke , King Abdullah set Saudi Arabia on what appears to be an irreversible new course , one of modernization . He replaced the conservative ministers of justice and the head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice with people closer to his way of thinking . The king also appointed a new head of the central bank , SAMA -- widely seen by financial experts as a wise move -- and brought in young blood and fresh ideas to the Majlis al Shura , the closest thing the country has to a parliament . That these changes happened should not be a surprise . Since he took over as king in August 2005 , when his ailing half-brother Fahd died , King Abdullah has been working quietly to bring about change . Indeed , al-Faiz used to lead the king 's Center for National Dialogue , a sort of talking shop that allowed issues such as women 's rights to be debated . The hope was that as discussions about change bubbled up in national and regional arenas , they would also filter out to newspapers and onto television . It 's exactly what 's been happening . The king is well into his 80s and inherited many ministers and other top officials almost as old as him . Many had been in their posts for decades , and many , unlike the king , held their conservative upbringings more than half a century ago to be models for the country 's future . So when a judge recently upheld the marriage of a 47-year-old man to an 8-year old-girl , there was a public backlash . Why ? Because debate about this issue had percolated into the public arena . And suddenly the judge looked out of step with society . It 's not what made the king decide to replace the minister of justice ; it just highlights how his steady behind-the-scenes work has helped him outflank the sizeable conservative segment of Saudi society . What the king and many of his fellow royals have realized for a long time is that no country is an island , least of all one as rich and prosperous as Saudi Arabia . The kingdom 's large and rapidly growing young population watches satellite TV , surfs the Internet and chats on Blackberries with friends in Europe , and it expects a different future than the one currently on offer . The sweeping changes remove some of the ministers most likely to hold back the next generation . The old Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice commission head , who runs the religious police , is an example . He has been replaced with someone closer to the king 's thinking , according to a deputy minister I talked with . The religious police patrol shopping malls and streets , enforcing religious laws such as ones requiring women to keep their heads covered and refrain from talking to men who are n't their relatives . They rile the youngsters who strain for more freedom . But no one is expecting revolutionary change overnight . Saudi Arabia is not about to become a `` permissive society . '' Religious law , long-held customs and deep religious principles are not up for negotiation . After all , the Saudi king derives respect and authority from his role as `` guardian '' of Islam 's two holiest sites , Mecca and Medina . To be less than thoroughly religious would not wash , even with Saudi 's moderates . King Abdullah is calculating that he is making change at a pace people can cope with . On a recent visit to a shopping mall where religious police had taken a back seat for the past year , it seemed to me the octogenarian king is just about keeping up . The religious police were in the background , and among young girls in particular , headscarves were gone and lipstick was in bright abundance .
With minister picks , king appears to have put Saudi Arabia on a new course . Comment: Conservative justice minister , head of religious police have been replaced .