Women around the World Series

Saudi Arabia & women

Saudi Arabia has been ranked the best country in the Middle East for women, coming 89th on the global ranking. This was reported on June 28th 2020 by a New York based business magazine. The report took into consideration factors such as gender equality, percentage of legislative seats held by women, sense of security, education and paid work.

Let’s take a look at these factors & see how the women live in one of the richest nations of the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia has a guardianship law which has recently been moved towards a bit of reform- only for namesake though.

What is a guardianship law?

This law requires the women to have a male guardian during their entire life. It could be their father, brother, husband, uncle or son (if a woman is widowed). Women have to take permission from their guardian to get healthcare, to go out, to get enrolled in educational institutes, to travel, to get a passport & before 2006, they even needed permission to get a valid ID for themselves.

Now, what happens if a woman refuses to ‘obey’ her guardian?

Well, the law supports the guardian in this regard and if a guardian files a formal complaint (he can), then legal charges can be pressed against the woman for ‘disobeying’ her guardian. She can be thrown into prison & on top of that, without the guardian’s permission she will not be released from the prison either. Speaking of prison & court proceedings, a man’s testimony equals that of 2 women & that applies in a rape case as well. The victim’s testimony would not hold up in a court of law if the accused says he hasn’t done it & there is no one else to support the victim’s claim.

Recently women have been allowed to drive, making Saudi Arabia the last country in the world to do so. Apart from that in August 2019, women were allowed to travel without a male guardian’s permission & also apply for a passport. However, this reform is useless. If a woman does travel without the guardian’s permission and the guardian decides to file a complaint of absence (absent here basically means that the woman is missing without the guardian’s knowledge/permission), then the woman can be captured & sentenced to prison. So, there goes your reform down the drain.

The crown prince of Saudi Arabia — Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud aka MBS has tried to introduce some reforms in his regime, effectively trying to become the face of progress. But all this comes just for political gains. The essence of Saudi treating its women as second rate citizens remains the same.

If one looks at the reforms closely, one would find that these reforms are only for the sake of improving his reputation for ulterior political motives. With every reform there is a loophole as well which essentially dooms the reform for good.

This is the point that is often missed when we talk about reforms in Saudi. The real reform for women would be their freedom to express themselves. If they are equal to men & that’s how the prince wants the world to see him & his empire then women should be allowed to speak their minds. Be whoever they want to be. These are some of the goals that remain elusive till date .The examples being the arrest of many female activists who have lobbied for the rights of women in Saudi for decades. While the prince told the world Saudi is moving towards a progressive approach, he arrested & imprisoned more than 10 women activists illegally without any grounds. To date these women have not been heard from while reports have surfaced of them being tortured in prison in Saudi Arabia & even being sexually harassed.

The world on the other hand has closed its eyes & sealed its lips. The women who fought for reforms were arrested & imprisoned while the prince takes credit for reform that are only bait. It could be that he knew if these women were out, they would see through his façade of a joke of reforms & demand real change. He knows the world is not the same as it was when his ancestors ruled. People grow tired of being oppressed eventually & it is only a matter of time. But the question is — why is the world not talking about it? Why has it become so normal to see tweets by women from Saudi asking for help & seeking asylum while they are on a run? Why does it have to come to a situation of freedom or death? The stakes are very high & not all is alright.