Women's rights in Saudi Arabia
Encyclopedia
Women's rights in Saudi Arabia are defined by Islam
and tribal customs. The Arabian peninsula
is the ancestral home of patriarchal
, nomadic tribes, in which purdah
(separation of women and men) and namus
(honor) are considered central.
All women, regardless of age, are required to have a male guardian. Women cannot vote or be elected to high political positions. However, King Abdullah
has declared that women will be able to vote and run in the 2015 local elections, and be on his advisory council. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that prohibits women from driving. The World Economic Forum
2009 Global Gender Gap Report
ranked Saudi Arabia 130th out of 134 countries for gender parity. It was the only country to score a zero in the category of political empowerment. The report also noted that Saudi Arabia is one of the few Middle Eastern countries to improve from 2008, with small gains in economic opportunity.
21% of Saudi women are in the workforce.
There is evidence that many women in Saudi Arabia do not want radical change. Even many advocates of reform reject Western critics, for "failing to understand the uniqueness of Saudi society."
Journalist Maha Akeel is a frequent critic of her country's patriarchal customs. Nonetheless, she agrees that Westerners criticize what they do not understand. "Look, we are not asking for ... women's rights according to Western values or lifestyles ... We want things according to what Islam says. Look at our history, our role models."
(Islamic law) and tribal culture. Islamic law (sharia
) is based on the Qur'an
and hadith
(teachings of Muhammad
). In Saudi culture, the sharia
is interpreted according to a strict Sunni form known as Salafi
(or Wahhabi). The law is mostly unwritten, leaving judges with significant discretionary power which they usually exercise in favor of tribal customs. The variation of interpretation often leads to controversy. For example, Sheikh Ahmad Qassim Al-Ghamdi, chief of the Makkah region’s mutaween
(religious police), has said prohibiting ikhtilat (gender mixing) has no basis in Sharia
. Meanwhile, Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Barrak, another prominent cleric, issued a fatwa
(religious opinion) that proponents of ikhtilat should be killed.
“It’s the culture, not the religion,” is a Saudi saying. Many Saudis do not see Islam as the main impediment to women’s rights. Said one female journalist, “If the Qur’an does not address the subject, then the clerics will err on the side of caution and make it haram
(forbidden). The driving ban for women is the best example.” Journalist Sabria Jawhar
dismisses perceptions of Islam as patriarchal
as a Western stereotype. “If all women were given the rights the Qur’an guarantees us, and not be supplanted by tribal customs, then the issue of whether Saudi women have equal rights would be reduced.” Asmaa Al-Muhhamad, editor for Al Arabiya
, points out that women in many other Islamic nations, including those in the Gulf area, have more political power than Saudi women. The 2009 Global Gender Gap Report
ranked several Muslim nations, such as Kyrgyzstan
, Gambia, and Indonesia
significantly higher than Saudi Arabia for women's equality.
Saudis often invoke the life of Muhammad
, to prove that Islam allows strong women. His first wife, Khadijah, was a powerful businesswoman who employed him and then initiated the marriage proposal on her own. Another wife, Aisha
commanded an army at the Battle of Bassorah
and is the source of many hadiths. Muhammad ended female infanticide and established the first rights for women in Arab culture. He reportedly told Muslim men "You have rights over your women, and your women have rights over you."
Enforcement and custom vary by region. Jeddah
is relatively permissive. Riyadh
and the surrounding Najd
region, origin of the House of Saud
, have stricter traditions. Prohibitions against women driving are typically unenforced in rural areas.
The 1979 Iranian Revolution
and subsequent Grand Mosque Seizure
in Saudi Arabia caused the government to implement stricter enforcement of sharia
. Saudi women who were adults before 1979 recall driving, inviting non-mahram
(unrelated) men into their homes (with the door open), and being in public without an abaya
(full-body covering) or niqab
(veil). The subsequent September 11 attacks against the World Trade Center
in 2001, on the other hand, are often viewed as precipitating cultural change away from strict fundamentalism.
The government under King Abdullah
is considered reformist. It has opened the country's first co-educational university, appointed the first female cabinet member, and passed laws against domestic violence. Women did not gain the right to vote in 2005, but the king supports a woman's right to drive and vote. Critics say the reform is far too slow, and often more symbolic than substantive.
Conservatives seek to preserve the culture's traditional gender roles. They see Saudi Arabia as uniquely in need of conservative values because it is the center of Islam. Radical activists, such as Wajeha Al-Huwaider
, compare the condition of Saudi women to slavery.
In 2006, a government poll found that over 80 percent of Saudi women do not think women should drive or work with men. A Gallup poll found that most Saudi women do not think women should be allowed to hold political office; no other Muslim country in the poll had a similar response. Saudi women supportive of traditional gender roles argue that these changes would be opposed to Muslim values and an unwanted Western cultural influence, and that they already have a high degree of independence.
Guardianship requirements are not written law. They are applied according to the customs and understanding of particular officials and institutions (hospitals, police stations, banks, etc.). Official transactions and grievances initiated by women are often abandoned because officers, or the women themselves, believe
they need authorization from the woman's guardian. Officials may demand the presence of a guardian if a woman cannot
show an ID card or is fully covered. These conditions make complaints against the guardians themselves extremely difficult.
Saudis consider male guardianship a right of women. In a 2010 interview with the New York Times, Saudi women defended male guardianship as providing protection and love.
In 2008, some Saudi women launched a petition “My Guardian Knows What’s Best for Me," which gathered over 5,000 signatures. The petition defended the status quo and requested punishment for activists demanding "equality between men and women, [and] mingling between men and women in mixed environments".
Liberal activists reject guardianship, loving or not, as demeaning to women. They object to being treated like "subordinates" and "children." They point to women whose careers were ended by the guardians, or who lost their children because of a lack of custody rights. In a 2009 case, a father vetoed several of his daughter's attempts to marry outside their tribe, and sent her to a mental institution as punishment. The courts recognize obedience to the father as law, even in cases involving adult daughters. Saudi activist Wajeha Al-Huwaider
agrees that most Saudi men are caring, but "it’s the same kind of feeling they have for handicapped people or for animals. The kindness comes from pity, from lack of respect.” She compares male guardianship to slavery:
The absurdity of the guardianship system, according to Huwaider, is shown by what would happen if she tried to remarry: "I would have to get the permission of my son."
The Saudi government has approved international and domestic declarations regarding women's rights, and insists that there is no law of male guardianship. Officially, it maintains that international agreements are applied in the courts. International organizations and NGOs are skeptical. "The Saudi government is saying one thing to the United Nations Human Rights Council
in Geneva but doing another thing inside the kingdom," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch
. Saudi interlocutors
told a UN
investigator that international agreements carry little to no weight in Saudi courts. According to Riyadh
businesswoman Hoda al-Geresi, the government has been slow to implement a 2004 resolution to increase employment and protect against abusive guardians.
(or "sharaf
" in a Bedouin
context), roughly translated as "honor". It also carries connotations of modesty and respectability. The namus of a male includes the protection of the females in his family. He provides for them, and in turn the women's honor (sometimes called "ird
") reflects on him. Namus is a common feature of many different patriarchal societies
.
Since the namus of a male guardian is affected by that of the women under his care, he is expected to control their behavior. If their honor is lost, in the eyes of the community he has lost control of them. Threats to chastity
, in particular, are threats to the namus of the male guardian.
Namus is associated with honor killing
. If a man loses namus because of a woman in his family, he may attempt to cleanse his honor by punishing her. In extreme cases, the punishment can be death. The suspicion alone of a woman’s wrong-doing can be enough for her to be subject to violence in the name of honor.
In 2007, a young woman was murdered by her father for chatting with a man on Facebook
. The case attracted a lot of media attention. Conservatives called for the government to ban Facebook, because it incites lust and causes social strife by encouraging gender mingling.
Purdah
requires women to avoid men and to cover most of their bodies. Purdah applies between members of the opposite sex who are not mahram
(or married). Mahram is defined as the kind of kinship which makes sexual relations incestuous. By blood, parents, grandparents, siblings, and uncles and aunts are mahram. Parents in-law and step-parents are also mahram. In addition, rada (fiqh)
, or breastfeeding, causes someone to be mahram. The woman must provide five full meals of breast milk in order to cause "milk kinship". Aunts sometimes breast-feed nephews by marriage, so that the families can mingle when they become adults.
The mutaween
, particularly active in Riyadh
, Buraydah and Tabuk, can detain Saudis who violate religious law. Women can be charged with prostitution for socializing with a man who is not a relative or husband. Enforcement of purdah
has relaxed in the wake of the September 11 attacks against the World Trade Center
in 2001.
(not meant to be exposed). In much of Islam, a women's face is not considered awrah. In Saudi Arabia and some other Arab states, all of the body is considered awrah except the hands and eyes. Accordingly, women in most of the country must wear the hijab
(head covering), and full black cloak called an abaya
, Many historians and Islamic scholars hold that the custom, if not requirement, of the veil predates Islam in parts of the Gulf region. They argue that the Qur'an
was interpreted to require the veil as part of adapting it to tribal traditions.
Traditionally, women's clothing must not reveal anything about her body. It is supposed to be thick, opaque, and loose. It is also required to be a dull color, unadorned, and generally not of interest to the male. It should not resemble the clothing of men (or non-Muslims).
The strictness of the dress code varies by region. In Jeddah
, women have more freedom regarding veils and covering their clothes with an abaya. Riyadh
is more conservative. Some shops sell designer abayas that have elements such as flared sleeves or a tighter form. Fashionable abayas come in colors other than black, and may be decorated with patterns and glitter. According to one designer, abayas are "no longer just abayas. Today, they reflect a woman's taste and personality."
In the West, the dress code is often regarded as a highly visible symbol of oppression. Some places, such as France and Quebec have passed legislation which bans the wearing of the hijab in public and work settings. Saudi women, however, place the dress code low on the list of priorities for reform or leave it off entirely. Journalist Sabria Jawhar
complains that Western readers of her Huffington Post blog are obsessed with her veil. She calls the niqab
"trivial":
A majority of women say they want to wear the veil. They cite Islamic piety, pride in family traditions, and fewer distractions from male colleagues. For many women, the dress code is a part of the right to modesty that Islam guarantees women. Some also perceive attempts at reform as anti-Islamic
intrusion by Westerners:"They fear Islam, and we are the world's foremost Islamic nation."
women and men must minimize social interaction. Most offices, banks, and universities have separate entrances for men and women. According to law, there should be physically and visually separate sections for the sexes at all meetings including weddings and funerals. Companies traditionally have been expected to create all-female areas if they hire women. Public transportation is segregated. Public places such as beaches, amusement parks, and ice-skating rinks are also segregated, sometimes by time, so that men and women attend at different hours. Violation of the principles of sex segregation is known as khalwa
.
Many Saudi homes have one entrance for men and another for women. Private space is associated with women while the public space, such as the living room, is reserved for men. Traditional house designs use high walls, compartmentalized inner rooms, and curtains to protect the family and particularly women from the public.
Segregation is particularly strict in restaurants, since eating requires removal of the veil. Most restaurants in Saudi Arabia have "family" and "bachelor" sections, the latter for men only (whether married or not). Women have to sit in the family section. Restaurants typically bar entrance to women who come without their husbands or mahram. Women are barred from waitressing, except at a few women-only restaurants.
Western companies often enforce Saudi religious regulations in restaurants, which has prompted some Western activists to criticise those companies. McDonald's
, Pizza Hut
, Starbucks
, and other US firms, for instance, maintain sex-segregated eating zones in their restaurants. The facilities in the women's section are usually lower in quality. Men and women may, sometimes, mix in restaurants of Western luxury hotels that cater primarily to noncitizens.
Exceptions to segregation rules sometimes include hospitals, medical colleges, and banks. The number of mixed-gender workplaces has increased since King Abdullah was crowned, although they are still unusual. Several newspaper publishers have desegregated their offices.
As a practical matter, gender mixing is fairly common in parts of daily life. Women customarily take taxis driven by men. Many households have maids, who mix with the non-mahram men of the households. Maids, taxi drivers, and waiters tend to be foreigners, which is sometimes used as a reason to be less strict about segregation.
The opening of the first co-educational university in 2009 caused an eruption of debate over segregation. A prominent cleric argued that segregation cannot be grounded in Sharia
. He suggested those who advocate it are hypocrites:
In 2008 Khamisa Mohammad Sawadi, a 75-year-old woman, was sentenced to 40 lashes and imprisonment for allowing a man to deliver bread to her directly in her home. Sawadi, a non-citizen, was deported.
encouraging women to provide breast milk to any man with whom she comes into regular contact. Abdel Mohsen Obeikan, a renowned Islamic scholar, an adviser to the royal court and consultant to the Ministry of Justice, said in 2010: "The man should take the milk, but not directly from the breast of the woman. He should drink it and then becomes a relative of the family, a fact that allows him to come in contact with the women without breaking Islam's rules about mixing." Breast milk kinship is indeed considered to be as good as a blood relationship in Islam and this way, for example foreign drivers can mix freely with all members of the family without breaking the Islamic rule which does not allow mixing of genders. Another cleric disagreed, saying the man should take the milk straight from her breast. The issue moved one female Saudi blogger to ridicule: "The whole issue just shows how clueless men are. All this back and forth between sheiks and not one bothers to ask a woman if it's logical, let alone possible to breastfeed a grown man five fulfilling breast milk meals. Moreover, the thought of a huge hairy face at a woman's breast does not evoke motherly or even brotherly feelings. It could go from the grotesque to the erotic but definitely not maternal."
The "breast milk" fatwa
became a rallying point for right-to-drive activists. They have threatened to start breastfeeding professional drivers, so that they can travel without violating segregation laws: "We either be allowed to drive or breastfeed foreigners."
(Islamic law) allows women to work, provided it does not lead to her neglecting her essential duties of homemaking. Women may also work if it is necessary for their support, such as a widow with children.
The employment of women should minimize mixing with non-mahram
men. The private sector is not banned from allowing women to work with men, although private business is encouraged to follow the example of government offices. Officially, a woman's work should not lead to her traveling without a close male relative. Most working women, however, out of necessity and practicality travel to work without a male relative and are alone with a driver.
Women are allowed to work as long as their husbands or their male guardians approve of the work. Her work must also be deemed suitable for the female physique and mentality. It is forbidden for women to be appointed as judges, and positions of high public office are also reserved for men. Teaching and nursing are common professions for women. The number of women working in finance increased 280% between 2000 and 2008.
Implementation of a resolution supporting expanded employment opportunities for women met resistance from within the labor ministry, and from the conservative Saudi citizenry. These institutions and individuals generally claim that according to Sharia
, a woman's work outside the house is against her fitrah (natural state).
The Saudi Labor Ministry has been inconsistent in its support for women's right to work. In 2006, Minister Dr. Ghazi Al-Qusaibi commented: "the [Labor] Ministry is not acting to [promote] women's employment since the best place for a woman to serve is in her own home" He went on to say:
Mixed-gender workplaces have become more common in recent years, especially in industries that must serve women such as banking and medicine. When women do work jobs also held by men, the men earn more and receive better benefits. According to a report in the Saudi Gazette
, an employer told a female reporter their health coverage does not cover her childbirth, but it does cover a "male employee's delivery."
Women in Saudi Arabia make up between 5% and 15% of the workforce. In contrast, in Muslim nations such as United Arab Emirates
, Kuwait
, and Malaysia the rate is over 40%. Saudi women are now seen developing professional careers as doctors, teachers and even business leaders, a process described by ABC News as "painfully slow". Prominent examples include Dr. Salwa Al-Hazzaa, head of the ophthalmology department at King Faisal Specialist Hospital
in Riyadh and Lubna Olayan
, named by Forbes
and Time
as one of the world's most influential businesswomen.
The quality of education is lower for females than males. Curricula and textbooks are updated less frequently, and teachers tend to be less qualified. At the higher levels, males have better research facilities.
One of the official educational policies is to promote "belief in the One God, Islam as the way of life, and Muhammad as God's Messenger." Official policy particularly emphasizes religion in the education of girls: "The purpose of educating a girl is to bring her up in a proper Islamic way so as to perform her duty in life, be an ideal and successful housewife and a good mother, ready to do things which suit her nature such as teaching, nursing and medical treatment." Policy also specifies "women's right to obtain suitable education on equal footing with men in light of Islamic laws."
Saudi women often specify education as the most important area for women's rights reform.
and technical skills, whereas girl's education emphasizes the skills of housewives and mothers. In some subjects, such as Arabic and mathematics, the annual examinations are the same for girls and boys.
, pharmacy
, architecture
, and law
. This has changed moderately in recent years as nearly 60% of all Saudi university students are female. Some fields, such as law and pharmacy, are beginning to open up for women. Saudi women can also study any subject they wish while abroad. However, customs of male guardianship and purdah
curtail women's ability to study abroad. In 1992, three times as many men studied abroad on government scholarships, although the ratio had been near 50 percent in the early '80s.
Women are primarily encouraged to study service industries or social sciences. Education, medicine, public administration, natural sciences, social sciences, and Islamic studies are deemed appropriate for women. Of all female university graduates in 2007, 93 percent had degrees in education or social sciences.
The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
, which opened in September 2009, is Saudi Arabia's first coeducational campus where men and women study alongside each other. Women are allowed to attend classes with men, may drive on campus, and are not required to veil themselves. In its inaugural year, 15% of the students were female, all of whom had studied at foreign universities. Classes are taught in English. The opening of the university caused intense public debate. Addressing the issue, Sheikh Ahmad Qassim Al-Ghamdi, chief of the Makkah region’s mutaween
, claimed that gender segregation has no basis in Shariah, or Islamic law, and has been incorrectly applied in the Saudi judicial system. Al-Ghamdi said that hadith
, the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, makes no references to gender segregation, and mixing is therefore permitted under Shariah. There were many calls for (and rumors of) his dismissal.
Technology is a central part of higher education for women. Many women's colleges use distance education
(from home) to compensate for women's poor access to transportation. Male lecturers are not allowed to lecture at women's classes. Since there are few female lecturers, some universities use videoconferencing
to have male professors teach female students without face-to-face contact.
Child marriage
hinders the cause of women's education, because traditional responsibilities and child-bearing are too burdensome. The drop-out rate of girls increases around puberty, as they exchange education for marriage. Roughly 25% of college-aged young women do not attend college, and in 2005–2006, women had a 60% dropout rate.
In 2009, the king appointed Norah al-Faiz
a deputy minister for women's education, the first female cabinet-level official.
(close male relative). However, out of necessity most women leave the house alone and often have contact with unrelated men to shop or conduct business.
Women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, although it is often tolerated in rural areas. Saudi Arabia has no written ban on women driving, but Saudi law requires citizens to use a locally issued license while in the country. Such licenses are not issued to women, thus making it effectively illegal for women to drive. Furthermore, most Saudi scholars and religious authorities have declared women driving haram
(forbidden). Commonly given reasons for the prohibition on women driving include:
Women are generally discouraged from using public transport. It is technically forbidden, but unenforced, for women to take taxis or hire private drivers, as it results in khalwa
(illegal mixing with a non-mahram
man). Women have limited access to bus and train services. Where it is allowed, they must use a separate entrance and sit in a back section reserved for women. But the bus companies with the widest coverage in Riyadh
and Jeddah
do not allow women at all.
Critics reject the ban on driving on the grounds that 1) it is not supported by the Qu'ran, 2) it causes violation of gender segregation customs, by needlessly forcing women to take taxis with male drivers, 3) it is an inordinate financial burden on families, causing the average woman to spend 30 percent of her income on taxis, 4) it impedes the education and employment of women, both of which tend to require commuting. In addition, male drivers are a frequent source of complaints of sexual harassment, and the public transport system is widely regarded as unreliable and dangerous.
King Abdullah has said that he wants women to drive when the society is ready for it:
On Nov. 6th, 1990, about 20 Saudi women illegally drove the streets of Riyadh in protest of the ban on Saudi women drivers. The women were eventually surrounded by curious onlookers and stopped by traffic cops, who took them into custody. They were released after their male guardians signed statements that they would not drive again, but thousands of leaflets with their names and their husbands' names - with "whores" and "pimps" scrawled next to them - circulated around the city. The women were suspended from jobs, had their passports confiscated, and were told not to speak to the press. About a year after the protest, they returned to work and received their passports, but they were kept under surveillance and passed over for promotions.
In 2008, advocates for the right of women to drive in Saudi Arabia collected about 1,000 signatures, hoping to persuade King Abdullah to lift the ban, but they were unsuccessful.
On International Women's Day
2008, the Saudi feminist activist Wajeha al-Huwaider
posted a YouTube
video of herself driving in a rural area (where it is tolerated), and requesting a universal right for women to drive. She commented: "I would like to congratulate every group of women that has been successful in gaining rights. And I hope that every woman that remains fighting for her rights receives them soon." Another women's driving campaign started during the 2011 Saudi Arabian protests
. Al-Huwaider filmed Manal al-Sharif
driving in Khobar
and the video was published on YouTube and Facebook
. , the campaign proposes that women start driving from 17 June 2011.
Skepticism is common about possible change in Saudi Arabia's deeply religious and patriarchal society, where many believe that allowing women the right to drive could lead to Western-style openness and an erosion of traditional values.
In early 2010, the government began considering a proposal to create a nation-wide women-only bus system. Activists are divided on the proposal, some saying it will reduce sexual harassment and transportation expenses, while facilitating women entering the workforce. Others criticize it as an escape from the real issue of recognizing women's right to drive.
Many of the laws controlling women apply to citizens of other countries who are relatives of Saudi men. For example, the following women require a male guardian's permission to leave the country: American-citizen women married to Saudi men, adult American-citizen women who are the unmarried daughters of Saudi fathers, and American-citizen boys under the age of 21 with a Saudi father.
In July 2011 a woman from Jeddah
was sentenced to ten lashes by whip for driving a car. In contrast to this punishment activists pointed out that the maximum penalty for a traffic violation was a fine. Previously when women were found driving they would normally be questioned and forced to sign a pledge stating they will never drive again. The whipping sentence followed a campaign in June to push for women's rights to drive as well as just two days after King Abdullah made a promise to protect women's rights. King Abdullah overturned the sentence.
) of lawmakers appointed by the king. Only men 30 years of age and older may serve as lawmakers.
Women could not vote or run for office in the country's first municipal elections, in 2005, however the King has promised them a right to vote in 2015. In September 2011, King Abdullah
announced that women would be allowed to vote and run for office in the 2015 municipal elections.
Women are allowed to hold positions on boards of chambers of commerce. In 2008, two women were elected to the board of the Jeddah
Chamber of Commerce and Industry. There are no women on the High Court or the Supreme Judicial Council. There is one woman in a cabinet-level position, as deputy minister for women's education. In 2010, the government announced female lawyers would be allowed to represent women in family cases.
In court, the testimony of one man equals that of two women. Female parties to court proceedings generally must deputize male relatives to speak on their behalf.
. With a 2008 Royal Decree, however, the only requirement needed to allow women to enter hotels are their national identification cards, and the hotel must inform the nearest police station of their room reservation and length of stay, which is the law there for men too.
In April 2010, a new, optional ID card for women was issued which allows them to travel in countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council
. The cards include GPS tracking, fingerprints and features that make them difficult to forge. Women do not need male permission to apply for the card, but do need it to travel abroad. Proponents argue that new female identity cards enable a woman to carry out her activities with ease, and prevent forgeries committed in the name of women.
Traditionally, women in Saudi Arabia are registered on their father's or husband's identification card. The Ulema
, Saudi's religious authorities, oppose the idea of issuing separate identity cards for women. Many other conservative Saudi citizens argue that cards, which show a woman's unveiled face, violate purdah
and Saudi custom.
. However, practically, females are not involved in making decisions surrounding their own marriages. The marriage contract is officially between the husband-to-be and the father of the bride.
Polygamy
is legal in Saudi Arabia. Saudi men may take as many as four wives, provided that they can support all wives equally. It is reportedly in decline. Polyandry
is forbidden.
Women cannot marry non-Muslim men unless they obtain official permission.
is delayed until she reaches puberty. A 2009 think-tank report on women's education concluded "Early marriage (before 16 years) ... negatively influences their chances of employment and the economic status of the family. It also negatively affects their health as they are at greater risk of dying from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth." A 2004 United Nations
report found that 16 percent of teenage Saudi women were or had been married.
A 2010 news report documented the case of Shareefa, an abandoned child-bride. Shareefa was married to an 80-year-old man when she was 10. The deal was arranged by the girl's father in exchange for money, against the wishes of her mother. Her husband divorced her a few months after the marriage without her knowledge, and abandoned her at the age of 21. The mother is attempting legal action, arguing that "Shareefa is now 21, she has lost more than 10 years of her life, her chance for an education, a decent marriage and normal life. Who is going to take responsibility for what she has gone through?”
The government's Saudi Human Rights Commission condemned child marriage in 2009, calling it "a clear violation against children and their psychological, moral and physical rights." It recommended that marriage officials adhere to a minimum age of 17 for females and 18 for males.
Female genital cutting
is reported as rare, possibly occurring among minorities such as African immigrants, Bedouin
, or Shiites. Some organizations are skeptical that official statistics can be trusted, because of the government's censorship of sensitive information and restrictions on independent aid organizations.
. There is no prohibition against spousal or statutory rape. Most rape cases are unreported, because victims fear namus
, reduced marriage prospects, accusations of adultery, or imprisonment.
Migrant women, often working as domestic helpers, represent a particularly vulnerable group and their living conditions are sometimes slave-like and include physical oppression and rape. In 2006, U.S. ambassador John Miller, Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
, said the forced labor of foreign women domestic worker
s was the most common kind of slavery in Saudi Arabia. Miller claimed human tracking is a problem everywhere, but Saudi Arabia's many foreign domestic workers and loopholes in the system cause many to fall victim to abuse and torture.
Women, as well as men, may be subject to harassment by the country’s religious police, the mutaween
, in some cases including arbitrary arrest and physical punishments. A UN
report cites a case in which two mutaween were charged with molesting a woman; the charges were dismissed on the grounds that mutaween are immune from prosecution.
In some cases, victims of sexual assault are punished for khalwa, being alone with an unrelated male, prior to the assault. In the Qatif girl rape case
, an 18-year old victim of kidnapping
and gang rape was sentenced by a Saudi court to six months in prison and 200 lashes. The judge ruled she violated laws on segregation of the sexes, as she was in an unrelated man's car at the time of the attack. She was also punished for trying to influence the court through the media. The Ministry of Justice defended the sentence, saying she committed adultery and "provoked the attack" because she was "indecently dressed". Her attackers were found guilty of kidnapping and were sentenced for prison terms ranging from two to ten years. According to Human Rights Watch
, one of the rapists filmed the assault with his mobile phone but the judges refused to allow it as evidence. The victim told ABC News that her brother tried to kill her after the attack. The case attracted international attention. The United Nations
criticized social attitudes and the system of male guardianship, which deter women from reporting crimes. The UN report argued that women are prevented from escaping abusive environments because of their lack of legal and economic independence. They are further oppressed, according to the UN, by practices surrounding divorce and child custody, the absence of a law criminalizing violence against women, and inconsistencies in the application of laws and procedures. The case prompted American Muslim journalist Mona Eltahawy to comment "What kind of God would punish a woman for rape? That is a question that Muslims must ask of Saudi Arabia because unless we challenge the determinedly anti-women teachings of Islam in Saudi Arabia, that kingdom will always get a free pass." In December 2007, King Abdullah
pardoned the victim, but did not agree that the judge had erred.
In 2009, the Saudi Gazette
reported that a 23-year-old unmarried woman was sentenced to one year in prison and 100 lashes for adultery. She had been gang-raped, become pregnant, and tried unsuccessfully to abort the fetus. The flogging was postponed until after the delivery.
and September 11 attacks constitute recent inflection points in Saudi cultural history.
In 1979, the Iranian Revolution led to a resurgence of fundamentalism in many parts of the Islamic world. Fundamentalists sought to repel Westernization, and governments sought to defend themselves against revolution. In Saudi Arabia, fundamentalists occupied the Grand Mosque (Masjid al-Haram)
and demanded a more conservative Islamic state, including "an end of education of women". The government responded with stricter interpretations and enforcement of Islamic laws. Newspapers were discouraged from publishing images of women; the Interior Ministry discouraged women from employment, including expatriates. Scholarships for women to study abroad declined. Wearing the abaya
in public became mandatory.
In contrast, the September 11 attacks against the World Trade Center
in 2001 precipitated a reaction against ultra-conservative Islamic sentiment; fifteen of the nineteen hijackers on 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia. Since then, the mutaween
have become less active, and reformists have been appointed to key government posts. The government says it has withdrawn support from schools deemed extremist, and moderated school textbooks.
The government under King Abdullah
is regarded as moderately progressive. It has opened the country's first co-educational university, appointed the first female cabinet member, and prohibited domestic violence. Gender segregation has relaxed, although it is still the norm. Critics say the reform is far too slow, and often more symbolic than substantive. Conservative clerics have successfully rebuffed attempts to outlaw child marriage. Women were not allowed to vote in the country's first municipal elections, although the King supports a woman's right to drive and vote. The few female government officials have minimal power. Norah Al-Faiz, the first female cabinet member, will not appear without her veil, appear on television without permission, or talk to male colleagues except by videoconferencing. She opposes girls' school sports as premature.
The government has made international commitments to women's rights. It ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
, with the proviso that the convention could not override Islamic law. However, government officials told the United Nations
that there is no contradiction with Islam. The degree of compliance between government commitments and practice is disputed. A 2009 report by the UN
questioned whether any international law ratified by the government has ever been applied inside Saudi Arabia.
Some of the recently appointed female advisors to parliament (shurah) believe slow reform is effective. According to Dr. Nora Alyousif, "The Saudi leadership is working hard on reform and supporting women … Seventy years ago we were completely isolated from the world. The changes which are taking place are unmistakable, and we have finally started opening up." Dr. Maha Almuneef says, “There are small steps now. There are giant steps coming. But most Saudis have been taught the traditional ways. You can't just change the social order all at once."
Local and international women's groups are pushing governments for reform, taking advantage of the fact that some rulers are eager to project a more progressive image to the West. The presence of powerful businesswomen—still a rare breed—in some of these groups helps get them heard.
Lubna Olayan
, the CEO of Olayan
Financing Company, is a well-known advocate for women's rights. She was the first woman to address a mixed-gender business audience in Saudi Arabia, speaking at the Jeddah Economic Forum
in 2004. She used the occasion to advocate for economic equality:
Forbes
and Time
magazines have named Lubna Olayan
one of the world's most influential women. The Grand Mufti
, Abdul-Azeez ibn Abdullaah Aal ash-Shaikh
condemned the event, saying "Allowing women to mix with men is the root of every evil and catastrophe ... It is highly punishable. Mixing of men and women is a reason for greater decadence and adultery."
Wajeha al-Huwaider
is often described as the most radical and prominent feminist activist in Saudi Arabia. In a 2008 interview, she described plans for an NGO called The Association for the Protection and Defense of Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia. She described the goals of the organization:
In 2008, the government warned The Association for the Protection and Defense of Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia not to hold any protests.
Saudis frequently debate the right way to bring about change. Those who oppose radical activists like Wajeha al-Huwaider
fear that an all or nothing approach to women's rights will spur a backlash against any change. Journalist Sabria Jawhar
dismisses Huwaider as a show-off: "The problem with some Saudi activists is that they want to make wholesale changes that are contrary to Islam, which requires a mahram for traveling women. If one wonders why great numbers of Saudi women don't join Al-Huwaider it's because they are asked to defy Islam. Al-Huwaider's all or nothing position undercuts her credibility."
Retaliation against women's rights activism has some precedent. Immediately following Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Saudi women launched a campaign for more rights. Forty-seven women drove illegally through Riyadh, in protest against the ban on driving. Activists presented a petition to King Fahd
requesting "basic legal and social rights." Subsequently, a feminist leader was arrested and tortured. Fundamentalists demanded strict punishment of the women who had driven in protest, and denounced activists as "whores." The mutaween
enforced the dress code more aggressively.
Many believe slow change is the only kind possible. History professor Hatoon al-Fassi says recent campaigns for women’s rights have opened up public discourse on topics such as child marriage and rape. "It's an exaggeration to call it a women's movement. But we are proud to say that something is going on in Saudi Arabia. We are not really free, but it is possible for women to express themselves as never before." Nonetheless, she says Westerners do not understand Saudi culture and how potentially traumatic change can be: “People had lived their whole lives doing one thing and believing one thing, and suddenly the king and the major clerics were saying that mixing was O.K. You can’t begin to imagine the impact that the ban on mixing has on our lives and what lifting this ban would mean.”
Others regard the current pace of change as much too slow, and activism as too limited. Sumayya Jabarti, editor of the Arab News
, says there are too many women with decision-making power who are like "queen bees," doing nothing to question the status quo. "People say things are changing for women because they are comparing it to before, when things were below zero. People say 'change,' but it is all relative and it is very, very limited ... Change is not coming, we are taking it ... I don't think the way is paved. I think we are building it through the route taken ... Most of the time, we are walking in place."
Most Saudis oppose mixed workplaces and women driving in cities. Most women want to wear the veil and do not think women should hold political office. Many Saudis view their country as “the closest thing to an ideal and pure Islamic nation”, and therefore most in need of resistance to Western values. Conservative cleric Mohsen al-Awajy says the country must resist secularization: "Saudi society is a special, tribal society, and neither King Abdullah or anyone else can impose his own interpretation of Islam. They can do nothing without Islam. There is no Saudi Arabia without Islam."
Princess Loulwa Al-Faisal describes herself as a conservative, advocating change that is gradual and consistent with Islam. A member of the royal family
, she argues that Islam sees women's rights as equal but different, which "Together, add up to a secure society that works". Princess Al-Faisal argues "The ultra-conservatives and the ultra-liberals both want the same thing, the destruction of the Islamic way. We are preserving it ... There are problems mostly with the way the law is interpreted, mostly in the courts, but those are changing." According to Princess Al-Faisal, Saudi women are better off than Western women in some ways: "their property is inviolable and that men have a duty to look after them". The lack of modesty in the West is "bad for the children". Nonetheless, she supports the women's suffrage in municipal elections. When Thomas Friedman
asked her what she would do if she were "queen for a day", she replied "First thing, I'd let women drive".
Prince Nayef, a possible heir to the throne, is considered more conservative than King Abdullah. He has said there is no need for women to serve as members of parliament or elected officials.
technology, as men and women use it to communicate secretly.
Saudi women use online social networking as a way to share ideas they cannot share publicly. As one woman put it:
Some conservative clerics have called for Facebook
to be banned because it causes gender mingling. One cleric called it a "door to lust" and cause of "social strife".
/b)_vicinity_of_damascus,_moslem_woman_-_vicinity_of_mecca,_fellah_woman_-_vicinity_of_damascus.jpg)
Western critics often compare the situation of Saudi women to a system of apartheid, analogous to South Africa
's treatment of non-whites during South Africa's apartheid era
. As evidence, they cite restrictions on travel, fields of study, choice of profession, access to the courts, and political speech. The New York Times writes, "Saudi women are denied many of the same rights that 'Blacks' and 'Coloreds' were denied in apartheid South Africa and yet the kingdom still belongs to the very same international community that kicked Pretoria out of its club."
Some commentators have argued that Saudi gender policies constitute a crime against humanity
, and warrant intervention from the international community. They criticize the U.S. government for publicizing oppression by enemies such as the Taliban, even though its allies, like Saudi Arabia, have similar policies. Mary Kaldor
views gender apartheid
in Saudi Arabia as similar to that enforced by the Taliban in Afghanistan. In contrast, political commentator Daniel Pipes
, sees Saudi gender apartheid as tempered by other practices, such as allowing women to attend school and work.
Critics also blame Western corporations that cooperate in enforcing segregation. American chains such as Starbucks and Pizza Hut maintain separate eating areas; the men’s areas are typically high-quality, whereas the women’s are rundown or lack seats. In a 2001 column, Washington Post editor Colbert I. King
commented:
King wonders why there is nothing like the Sullivan Principles
for gender-based discrimination. Journalist Anne Applebaum
argues that gender apartheid in South Africa even gets a free pass from American feminists. She questions why American civil rights leaders like Jesse Jackson were active in protesting South Africa’s racial apartheid, but American feminists rarely venture beyond reproductive rights when discussing international politics: “Until this changes, it will be hard to mount a campaign, in the manner of the anti-apartheid movement, to enforce sanctions or codes of conduct for people doing business there.”
Cultural relativism
is the root of activist inaction, according to feminists such as Azar Majedi
, Pamela Bone, and Maryam Namazie
. They argue that political Islam
is misogynist
, and the desire of Western liberals to tolerate Islam blinds them to women’s rights violations. Majedi and Namazie, both born in Iran, consider cultural relativism racist: “To put it bluntly, according to this concept, because of my birthplace, I should enjoy fewer rights relative to a woman born in Sweden, England, or France.” Pamela Bone argues feminist apathy is supported by “the dreary cultural relativism that pervades the thinking of so many of those once described as on the Left. We are no better than they are. We should not impose our values on them. We can criticise only our own. The problem with this mindset is that, with all its faults, Western culture is clearly, objectively, better.” Bone argues that cultural relativism comes from a fear that criticizing Islam will be considered racist.
Ann Elizabeth Mayer
, an American specialist in Islamic law, sees gender apartheid as enshrined in the Saudi Basic Law
:
Mayer argues that Articles 9 and 10 deny women "any opportunity to participate in public law or government".
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and tribal customs. The Arabian peninsula
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2...
is the ancestral home of patriarchal
Patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and entails female subordination...
, nomadic tribes, in which purdah
Purdah
Purdah or pardeh is the practice of concealing women from men. According to one definition:This takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes, and the requirement for women to cover their bodies and conceal their form....
(separation of women and men) and namus
Namus
Namus is the Arabic word of a concept of an ethical category, a virtue, in Middle Eastern patriarchal character...
(honor) are considered central.
All women, regardless of age, are required to have a male guardian. Women cannot vote or be elected to high political positions. However, King Abdullah
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, is the King of Saudi Arabia. He succeeded to the throne on 1 August 2005 upon the death of his half-brother, King Fahd. When Crown Prince, he governed Saudi Arabia as regent from 1998 to 2005...
has declared that women will be able to vote and run in the 2015 local elections, and be on his advisory council. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that prohibits women from driving. The World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
2009 Global Gender Gap Report
Global Gender Gap Report
The Global Gender Gap Report was first published in 2006 by the World Economic Forum. The 2010 report covers 134 major and emerging economies....
ranked Saudi Arabia 130th out of 134 countries for gender parity. It was the only country to score a zero in the category of political empowerment. The report also noted that Saudi Arabia is one of the few Middle Eastern countries to improve from 2008, with small gains in economic opportunity.
21% of Saudi women are in the workforce.
There is evidence that many women in Saudi Arabia do not want radical change. Even many advocates of reform reject Western critics, for "failing to understand the uniqueness of Saudi society."
Journalist Maha Akeel is a frequent critic of her country's patriarchal customs. Nonetheless, she agrees that Westerners criticize what they do not understand. "Look, we are not asking for ... women's rights according to Western values or lifestyles ... We want things according to what Islam says. Look at our history, our role models."
Background
Gender roles in Saudi society come from ShariaSharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
(Islamic law) and tribal culture. Islamic law (sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
) is based on the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
and hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
(teachings of Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
). In Saudi culture, the sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
is interpreted according to a strict Sunni form known as Salafi
Salafi
A Salafi come from Sunni Islam is a follower of an Islamic movement, Salafiyyah, that is supposed to take the Salaf who lived during the patristic period of early Islam as model examples...
(or Wahhabi). The law is mostly unwritten, leaving judges with significant discretionary power which they usually exercise in favor of tribal customs. The variation of interpretation often leads to controversy. For example, Sheikh Ahmad Qassim Al-Ghamdi, chief of the Makkah region’s mutaween
Mutaween
The word mutaween most literally means "volunteers" in the Arabic language, and is commonly used as a casual term for the government-authorized or government-recognized religious police of Saudi Arabia....
(religious police), has said prohibiting ikhtilat (gender mixing) has no basis in Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
. Meanwhile, Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Barrak, another prominent cleric, issued a fatwa
Fatwa
A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
(religious opinion) that proponents of ikhtilat should be killed.
“It’s the culture, not the religion,” is a Saudi saying. Many Saudis do not see Islam as the main impediment to women’s rights. Said one female journalist, “If the Qur’an does not address the subject, then the clerics will err on the side of caution and make it haram
Haraam
Haraam is an Arabic term meaning "forbidden", or "sacred". In Islam it is used to refer to anything that is prohibited by the word of Allah in the Qur'an or the Hadith Qudsi. Haraam is the highest status of prohibition given to anything that would result in sin when a Muslim commits it...
(forbidden). The driving ban for women is the best example.” Journalist Sabria Jawhar
Sabria Jawhar
Sabria Salama Murjan Jawhar is a Saudi Arabian journalist and columnist for the Jeddah-based Saudi Gazette and has an expertise in Arabic/English linguistics. She also writes for English-language news outlets, including The Huffington Post, and serves as an academic lecturer in the field of...
dismisses perceptions of Islam as patriarchal
Patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and entails female subordination...
as a Western stereotype. “If all women were given the rights the Qur’an guarantees us, and not be supplanted by tribal customs, then the issue of whether Saudi women have equal rights would be reduced.” Asmaa Al-Muhhamad, editor for Al Arabiya
Al Arabiya
Al Arabiya is a Pan-Arabist Saudi-owned Arabic-language television news channel. Launched on March 3, 2003, the channel is based in Dubai Media City, United Arab Emirates, and is majority-owned by the Saudi broadcaster Middle East Broadcasting Center ....
, points out that women in many other Islamic nations, including those in the Gulf area, have more political power than Saudi women. The 2009 Global Gender Gap Report
Global Gender Gap Report
The Global Gender Gap Report was first published in 2006 by the World Economic Forum. The 2010 report covers 134 major and emerging economies....
ranked several Muslim nations, such as Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...
, Gambia, and Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
significantly higher than Saudi Arabia for women's equality.
Saudis often invoke the life of Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
, to prove that Islam allows strong women. His first wife, Khadijah, was a powerful businesswoman who employed him and then initiated the marriage proposal on her own. Another wife, Aisha
Aisha
Aisha bint Abu Bakr also transcribed as was Muhammad's favorite wife...
commanded an army at the Battle of Bassorah
Battle of Bassorah
The Battle of Bassorah was a battle that took place at Basra, Iraq in 656 between forces allied to Ali ibn Abi Talib and forces allied to Aisha , who wanted justice on the...
and is the source of many hadiths. Muhammad ended female infanticide and established the first rights for women in Arab culture. He reportedly told Muslim men "You have rights over your women, and your women have rights over you."
Enforcement and custom vary by region. Jeddah
Jeddah
Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...
is relatively permissive. Riyadh
Riyadh
Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a...
and the surrounding Najd
Najd
Najd or Nejd , literally Highland, is the central region of the Arabian Peninsula.-Boundaries :The Arabic word nejd literally means "upland" and was once applied to a variety of regions within the Arabian Peninsula...
region, origin of the House of Saud
House of Saud
The House of Saud , also called the Al Saud, is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia and one of the wealthiest and most powerful dynasties in the world. The family holds thousands of members...
, have stricter traditions. Prohibitions against women driving are typically unenforced in rural areas.
The 1979 Iranian Revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
and subsequent Grand Mosque Seizure
Grand Mosque Seizure
The Grand Mosque Seizure on November 20, 1979, was an armed attack and takeover by Islamist dissidents of the Al-Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest place in Islam...
in Saudi Arabia caused the government to implement stricter enforcement of sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
. Saudi women who were adults before 1979 recall driving, inviting non-mahram
Mahram
In Islamic sharia legal terminology, a mahram is an unmarriageable kin with whom sexual intercourse would be considered incestuous, a punishable taboo...
(unrelated) men into their homes (with the door open), and being in public without an abaya
Abaya
The abaya "cloak" , sometimes also called an aba, is a simple, loose over-garment, essentially a robe-like dress, worn by some women in parts of the Islamic world including in Turkey, North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula....
(full-body covering) or niqab
Niqab
A niqab is a cloth which covers the face, worn by some Muslim women as a part of sartorial hijāb...
(veil). The subsequent September 11 attacks against the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
in 2001, on the other hand, are often viewed as precipitating cultural change away from strict fundamentalism.
The government under King Abdullah
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, is the King of Saudi Arabia. He succeeded to the throne on 1 August 2005 upon the death of his half-brother, King Fahd. When Crown Prince, he governed Saudi Arabia as regent from 1998 to 2005...
is considered reformist. It has opened the country's first co-educational university, appointed the first female cabinet member, and passed laws against domestic violence. Women did not gain the right to vote in 2005, but the king supports a woman's right to drive and vote. Critics say the reform is far too slow, and often more symbolic than substantive.
Conservatives seek to preserve the culture's traditional gender roles. They see Saudi Arabia as uniquely in need of conservative values because it is the center of Islam. Radical activists, such as Wajeha Al-Huwaider
Wajeha al-Huwaider
Wajeha al-Huwaider is a female Saudi activist and writer. She is a co-founder of The Association for the Protection and Defense of Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia....
, compare the condition of Saudi women to slavery.
In 2006, a government poll found that over 80 percent of Saudi women do not think women should drive or work with men. A Gallup poll found that most Saudi women do not think women should be allowed to hold political office; no other Muslim country in the poll had a similar response. Saudi women supportive of traditional gender roles argue that these changes would be opposed to Muslim values and an unwanted Western cultural influence, and that they already have a high degree of independence.
Male guardian
All females must have a male guardian, typically a father or husband. The guardian has duties to, and rights over, the woman in many aspects of civic life. A United Nation's Special Rapporteur report states that “legal guardianship of women by a male, is practised in varying degrees and encompasses major aspects of women’s lives. The system is said to emanate from social conventions, including the importance of protecting women, and from religious precepts on travel and marriage, although these requirements were arguably confined to particular situations.” Depending on the guardian, women may need their guardian's permission for: marriage and divorce; travel, if under 45; education; employment; opening a bank account; elective surgery, particularly when sexual in nature. The official law, if not the custom, requiring a guardian's permission for a woman to seek employment was repealed in 2008.Guardianship requirements are not written law. They are applied according to the customs and understanding of particular officials and institutions (hospitals, police stations, banks, etc.). Official transactions and grievances initiated by women are often abandoned because officers, or the women themselves, believe
they need authorization from the woman's guardian. Officials may demand the presence of a guardian if a woman cannot
show an ID card or is fully covered. These conditions make complaints against the guardians themselves extremely difficult.
Saudis consider male guardianship a right of women. In a 2010 interview with the New York Times, Saudi women defended male guardianship as providing protection and love.
In 2008, some Saudi women launched a petition “My Guardian Knows What’s Best for Me," which gathered over 5,000 signatures. The petition defended the status quo and requested punishment for activists demanding "equality between men and women, [and] mingling between men and women in mixed environments".
Liberal activists reject guardianship, loving or not, as demeaning to women. They object to being treated like "subordinates" and "children." They point to women whose careers were ended by the guardians, or who lost their children because of a lack of custody rights. In a 2009 case, a father vetoed several of his daughter's attempts to marry outside their tribe, and sent her to a mental institution as punishment. The courts recognize obedience to the father as law, even in cases involving adult daughters. Saudi activist Wajeha Al-Huwaider
Wajeha al-Huwaider
Wajeha al-Huwaider is a female Saudi activist and writer. She is a co-founder of The Association for the Protection and Defense of Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia....
agrees that most Saudi men are caring, but "it’s the same kind of feeling they have for handicapped people or for animals. The kindness comes from pity, from lack of respect.” She compares male guardianship to slavery:
The ownership of a woman is passed from one man to another. Ownership of the woman is passed from the father or the brother to another man, the husband. The woman is merely a piece of merchandise, which is passed over to someone else—her guardian ... Ultimately, I think women are greatly feared. When I compare the Saudi man with other Arab men, I can say that the Saudi is the only man who could not compete with the woman. He could not compete, so what did he do with her? ... The woman has capabilities. When women study, they compete with the men for jobs. All jobs are open to men. 90% of them are open to men. You do not feel any competition ... If you do not face competition from the Saudi woman ... you have the entire scene for yourself. All positions and jobs are reserved for you. Therefore, you are a spoiled and self-indulged man.
The absurdity of the guardianship system, according to Huwaider, is shown by what would happen if she tried to remarry: "I would have to get the permission of my son."
The Saudi government has approved international and domestic declarations regarding women's rights, and insists that there is no law of male guardianship. Officially, it maintains that international agreements are applied in the courts. International organizations and NGOs are skeptical. "The Saudi government is saying one thing to the United Nations Human Rights Council
United Nations Human Rights Council
The United Nations Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations System. The UNHRC is the successor to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights , and is a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly...
in Geneva but doing another thing inside the kingdom," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
. Saudi interlocutors
Interlocutor (politics)
An interlocutor is someone who formally explains the views of a government and also can relay messages back to a government. Unlike a spokesperson, an interlocutor often has no formal position within a government or any formal authority to speak on its behalf, and even when they do, everything an...
told a UN
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
investigator that international agreements carry little to no weight in Saudi courts. According to Riyadh
Riyadh
Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a...
businesswoman Hoda al-Geresi, the government has been slow to implement a 2004 resolution to increase employment and protect against abusive guardians.
Namus
Male guardianship is closely related to namusNamus
Namus is the Arabic word of a concept of an ethical category, a virtue, in Middle Eastern patriarchal character...
(or "sharaf
Honor codes of the Bedouin
Sharaf and ird are Bedouin honor codes. Along with hospitality and courage/bravery, it is one of the Bedouin aspects of ethics that contain significant amounts of pre-Islamic customs...
" in a Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
context), roughly translated as "honor". It also carries connotations of modesty and respectability. The namus of a male includes the protection of the females in his family. He provides for them, and in turn the women's honor (sometimes called "ird
Honor codes of the Bedouin
Sharaf and ird are Bedouin honor codes. Along with hospitality and courage/bravery, it is one of the Bedouin aspects of ethics that contain significant amounts of pre-Islamic customs...
") reflects on him. Namus is a common feature of many different patriarchal societies
Patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and entails female subordination...
.
Since the namus of a male guardian is affected by that of the women under his care, he is expected to control their behavior. If their honor is lost, in the eyes of the community he has lost control of them. Threats to chastity
Chastity
Chastity refers to the sexual behavior of a man or woman acceptable to the moral standards and guidelines of a culture, civilization, or religion....
, in particular, are threats to the namus of the male guardian.
Namus is associated with honor killing
Honor killing
An honor killing or honour killing is the homicide of a member of a family or social group by other members, due to the belief of the perpetrators that the victim has brought dishonor upon the family or community...
. If a man loses namus because of a woman in his family, he may attempt to cleanse his honor by punishing her. In extreme cases, the punishment can be death. The suspicion alone of a woman’s wrong-doing can be enough for her to be subject to violence in the name of honor.
In 2007, a young woman was murdered by her father for chatting with a man on Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
. The case attracted a lot of media attention. Conservatives called for the government to ban Facebook, because it incites lust and causes social strife by encouraging gender mingling.
Purdah
Purdah is a curtain which makes sharp separation between the world of man and that of a woman, between the community as a whole and the family which is its heart, between the street and the home, the public and the private, just as it sharply separates society and the individual.
Purdah
Purdah
Purdah or pardeh is the practice of concealing women from men. According to one definition:This takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes, and the requirement for women to cover their bodies and conceal their form....
requires women to avoid men and to cover most of their bodies. Purdah applies between members of the opposite sex who are not mahram
Mahram
In Islamic sharia legal terminology, a mahram is an unmarriageable kin with whom sexual intercourse would be considered incestuous, a punishable taboo...
(or married). Mahram is defined as the kind of kinship which makes sexual relations incestuous. By blood, parents, grandparents, siblings, and uncles and aunts are mahram. Parents in-law and step-parents are also mahram. In addition, rada (fiqh)
Rada (fiqh)
Radāʿ or ridāʿa is a technical term from Islamic jurisprudence meaning "the suckling which produces the legal impediment to marriage of foster-kinship". The term derives from the infinitive noun of the Arabic word radiʿa or radaʿa...
, or breastfeeding, causes someone to be mahram. The woman must provide five full meals of breast milk in order to cause "milk kinship". Aunts sometimes breast-feed nephews by marriage, so that the families can mingle when they become adults.
The mutaween
Mutaween
The word mutaween most literally means "volunteers" in the Arabic language, and is commonly used as a casual term for the government-authorized or government-recognized religious police of Saudi Arabia....
, particularly active in Riyadh
Riyadh
Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a...
, Buraydah and Tabuk, can detain Saudis who violate religious law. Women can be charged with prostitution for socializing with a man who is not a relative or husband. Enforcement of purdah
Purdah
Purdah or pardeh is the practice of concealing women from men. According to one definition:This takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes, and the requirement for women to cover their bodies and conceal their form....
has relaxed in the wake of the September 11 attacks against the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
in 2001.
Dress code
Among non-mahram men, women must cover the parts of the body that are awrahAwrah
Awrah or Awrat is a term used within Islam which denotes the intimate parts of the body, for both men and women, which must be covered with clothing. Exposing the awrah is unlawful in Islam and is regarded as sin...
(not meant to be exposed). In much of Islam, a women's face is not considered awrah. In Saudi Arabia and some other Arab states, all of the body is considered awrah except the hands and eyes. Accordingly, women in most of the country must wear the hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
(head covering), and full black cloak called an abaya
Abaya
The abaya "cloak" , sometimes also called an aba, is a simple, loose over-garment, essentially a robe-like dress, worn by some women in parts of the Islamic world including in Turkey, North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula....
, Many historians and Islamic scholars hold that the custom, if not requirement, of the veil predates Islam in parts of the Gulf region. They argue that the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
was interpreted to require the veil as part of adapting it to tribal traditions.
Traditionally, women's clothing must not reveal anything about her body. It is supposed to be thick, opaque, and loose. It is also required to be a dull color, unadorned, and generally not of interest to the male. It should not resemble the clothing of men (or non-Muslims).
The strictness of the dress code varies by region. In Jeddah
Jeddah
Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...
, women have more freedom regarding veils and covering their clothes with an abaya. Riyadh
Riyadh
Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a...
is more conservative. Some shops sell designer abayas that have elements such as flared sleeves or a tighter form. Fashionable abayas come in colors other than black, and may be decorated with patterns and glitter. According to one designer, abayas are "no longer just abayas. Today, they reflect a woman's taste and personality."
In the West, the dress code is often regarded as a highly visible symbol of oppression. Some places, such as France and Quebec have passed legislation which bans the wearing of the hijab in public and work settings. Saudi women, however, place the dress code low on the list of priorities for reform or leave it off entirely. Journalist Sabria Jawhar
Sabria Jawhar
Sabria Salama Murjan Jawhar is a Saudi Arabian journalist and columnist for the Jeddah-based Saudi Gazette and has an expertise in Arabic/English linguistics. She also writes for English-language news outlets, including The Huffington Post, and serves as an academic lecturer in the field of...
complains that Western readers of her Huffington Post blog are obsessed with her veil. She calls the niqab
Niqab
A niqab is a cloth which covers the face, worn by some Muslim women as a part of sartorial hijāb...
"trivial":
A majority of women say they want to wear the veil. They cite Islamic piety, pride in family traditions, and fewer distractions from male colleagues. For many women, the dress code is a part of the right to modesty that Islam guarantees women. Some also perceive attempts at reform as anti-Islamic
Islamophobia
Islamophobia describes prejudice against, hatred or irrational fear of Islam or MuslimsThe term dates back to the late 1980s or early 1990s, but came into common usage after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States....
intrusion by Westerners:"They fear Islam, and we are the world's foremost Islamic nation."
Sex segregation
Sex segregation is expected in public. Non-mahramMahram
In Islamic sharia legal terminology, a mahram is an unmarriageable kin with whom sexual intercourse would be considered incestuous, a punishable taboo...
women and men must minimize social interaction. Most offices, banks, and universities have separate entrances for men and women. According to law, there should be physically and visually separate sections for the sexes at all meetings including weddings and funerals. Companies traditionally have been expected to create all-female areas if they hire women. Public transportation is segregated. Public places such as beaches, amusement parks, and ice-skating rinks are also segregated, sometimes by time, so that men and women attend at different hours. Violation of the principles of sex segregation is known as khalwa
Khalwa
Khalwa .-Retreat:In Sufism, a solitary retreat, traditionally for 40 days , during which a disciple does extensive spiritual exercises under the direction of a sufi master...
.
Many Saudi homes have one entrance for men and another for women. Private space is associated with women while the public space, such as the living room, is reserved for men. Traditional house designs use high walls, compartmentalized inner rooms, and curtains to protect the family and particularly women from the public.
Segregation is particularly strict in restaurants, since eating requires removal of the veil. Most restaurants in Saudi Arabia have "family" and "bachelor" sections, the latter for men only (whether married or not). Women have to sit in the family section. Restaurants typically bar entrance to women who come without their husbands or mahram. Women are barred from waitressing, except at a few women-only restaurants.
Western companies often enforce Saudi religious regulations in restaurants, which has prompted some Western activists to criticise those companies. McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
, Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchise that offers different styles of pizza along with side dishes including pasta, buffalo wings, breadsticks, and garlic bread....
, Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
, and other US firms, for instance, maintain sex-segregated eating zones in their restaurants. The facilities in the women's section are usually lower in quality. Men and women may, sometimes, mix in restaurants of Western luxury hotels that cater primarily to noncitizens.
Exceptions to segregation rules sometimes include hospitals, medical colleges, and banks. The number of mixed-gender workplaces has increased since King Abdullah was crowned, although they are still unusual. Several newspaper publishers have desegregated their offices.
As a practical matter, gender mixing is fairly common in parts of daily life. Women customarily take taxis driven by men. Many households have maids, who mix with the non-mahram men of the households. Maids, taxi drivers, and waiters tend to be foreigners, which is sometimes used as a reason to be less strict about segregation.
The opening of the first co-educational university in 2009 caused an eruption of debate over segregation. A prominent cleric argued that segregation cannot be grounded in Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
. He suggested those who advocate it are hypocrites:
In 2008 Khamisa Mohammad Sawadi, a 75-year-old woman, was sentenced to 40 lashes and imprisonment for allowing a man to deliver bread to her directly in her home. Sawadi, a non-citizen, was deported.
Breast milk kinship
In order to reduce the difficulties of strict sex segregation in modern life, some clerics issued a fatwaFatwa
A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
encouraging women to provide breast milk to any man with whom she comes into regular contact. Abdel Mohsen Obeikan, a renowned Islamic scholar, an adviser to the royal court and consultant to the Ministry of Justice, said in 2010: "The man should take the milk, but not directly from the breast of the woman. He should drink it and then becomes a relative of the family, a fact that allows him to come in contact with the women without breaking Islam's rules about mixing." Breast milk kinship is indeed considered to be as good as a blood relationship in Islam and this way, for example foreign drivers can mix freely with all members of the family without breaking the Islamic rule which does not allow mixing of genders. Another cleric disagreed, saying the man should take the milk straight from her breast. The issue moved one female Saudi blogger to ridicule: "The whole issue just shows how clueless men are. All this back and forth between sheiks and not one bothers to ask a woman if it's logical, let alone possible to breastfeed a grown man five fulfilling breast milk meals. Moreover, the thought of a huge hairy face at a woman's breast does not evoke motherly or even brotherly feelings. It could go from the grotesque to the erotic but definitely not maternal."
The "breast milk" fatwa
Fatwa
A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
became a rallying point for right-to-drive activists. They have threatened to start breastfeeding professional drivers, so that they can travel without violating segregation laws: "We either be allowed to drive or breastfeed foreigners."
Economic rights
For me to go to any government
agency or to the court to buy or sell property, as a woman I am obligated to bring two men as witnesses to testify to my identity, and four male witnesses to testify that the first two are credible witnesses, and actually know me. Where is any woman going to find six men to go with her to the court?! It’s hard for me to get my legal rights...the solution is to use one’s connections, pay a bribe or be sharp-tongued. --Loulwa al-Saidan, real estate investorReal estate investorA real estate investor or a real estate entrepreneur to a lesser extent is someone who actively or passively invests in real estate. An active investor may buy a property, make repairs and/or improvements to the property, and sell it later for a profit. A passive investor might hire a firm to...
Employment
Girls are taught that their primary role is to raise children and take care of the household. According to Saudi culture, a woman's place is at home and a man's place is at the workplace. Saudi shariaSharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
(Islamic law) allows women to work, provided it does not lead to her neglecting her essential duties of homemaking. Women may also work if it is necessary for their support, such as a widow with children.
The employment of women should minimize mixing with non-mahram
Mahram
In Islamic sharia legal terminology, a mahram is an unmarriageable kin with whom sexual intercourse would be considered incestuous, a punishable taboo...
men. The private sector is not banned from allowing women to work with men, although private business is encouraged to follow the example of government offices. Officially, a woman's work should not lead to her traveling without a close male relative. Most working women, however, out of necessity and practicality travel to work without a male relative and are alone with a driver.
Women are allowed to work as long as their husbands or their male guardians approve of the work. Her work must also be deemed suitable for the female physique and mentality. It is forbidden for women to be appointed as judges, and positions of high public office are also reserved for men. Teaching and nursing are common professions for women. The number of women working in finance increased 280% between 2000 and 2008.
Implementation of a resolution supporting expanded employment opportunities for women met resistance from within the labor ministry, and from the conservative Saudi citizenry. These institutions and individuals generally claim that according to Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
, a woman's work outside the house is against her fitrah (natural state).
The Saudi Labor Ministry has been inconsistent in its support for women's right to work. In 2006, Minister Dr. Ghazi Al-Qusaibi commented: "the [Labor] Ministry is not acting to [promote] women's employment since the best place for a woman to serve is in her own home" He went on to say:
therefore no woman will be employed without the explicit consent of her guardian. We will also make sure that the [woman's] job will not interfere with her work at home with her family, or with her eternal duty of raising her children...
Mixed-gender workplaces have become more common in recent years, especially in industries that must serve women such as banking and medicine. When women do work jobs also held by men, the men earn more and receive better benefits. According to a report in the Saudi Gazette
Saudi Gazette
Saudi Gazette is the leading English language daily newspaper published in Saudi Arabia. and is currently available both in print and online.As of July 1, 2011, Dr Omar S. Elmershedi is the Saudi Gazette Editor-in-Chief.Managing Editor: Shams Ahsan...
, an employer told a female reporter their health coverage does not cover her childbirth, but it does cover a "male employee's delivery."
Women in Saudi Arabia make up between 5% and 15% of the workforce. In contrast, in Muslim nations such as United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
, Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
, and Malaysia the rate is over 40%. Saudi women are now seen developing professional careers as doctors, teachers and even business leaders, a process described by ABC News as "painfully slow". Prominent examples include Dr. Salwa Al-Hazzaa, head of the ophthalmology department at King Faisal Specialist Hospital
King Faisal Specialist Hospital
The King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center is a hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which operates 850 beds with approximately 8,500 employees. In all there are 63 different nationalities making up the staff. The hospital is the national referral center for oncology, organ...
in Riyadh and Lubna Olayan
Lubna Olayan
Lubna Suliman Olayan is a Saudi business woman. Born to Suliman Olayan and Maryam bint Jassim Al Abdulwahab. Considered to be one of the most influential businesswomen in the world; as was listed as one of the top 100 most influential people of 2005 by Time magazine, and has continued to be on the...
, named by Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
and Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
as one of the world's most influential businesswomen.
Education
Approximately 71% to 78% of females are literate, in comparison to 85% literacy rates in males. More women receive secondary- and tertiary-education than men. Fifty percent of working women have a college education, compared to 16 percent of working men. In contrast, in 1970, only 2% of women were literate (compared to 15% of men).The quality of education is lower for females than males. Curricula and textbooks are updated less frequently, and teachers tend to be less qualified. At the higher levels, males have better research facilities.
One of the official educational policies is to promote "belief in the One God, Islam as the way of life, and Muhammad as God's Messenger." Official policy particularly emphasizes religion in the education of girls: "The purpose of educating a girl is to bring her up in a proper Islamic way so as to perform her duty in life, be an ideal and successful housewife and a good mother, ready to do things which suit her nature such as teaching, nursing and medical treatment." Policy also specifies "women's right to obtain suitable education on equal footing with men in light of Islamic laws."
Saudi women often specify education as the most important area for women's rights reform.
Elementary education
Public education in Saudi Arabia is sex-segregated at all levels, and in general females and males do not attend the same school. Moreover, male teachers are not permitted to teach or work at girls' schools and women are not allowed to teach male children. The education system treats the sexes differently due to their societal expectations. Boys' education emphasizes physical educationPhysical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
and technical skills, whereas girl's education emphasizes the skills of housewives and mothers. In some subjects, such as Arabic and mathematics, the annual examinations are the same for girls and boys.
Higher education
Religious belief about gender roles and the perception that education is more relevant for men has resulted in fewer educational opportunities for women. The society's need for sex segregation in professional life is also used to justify restricting women's fields of study. Traditionally, women have been excluded from studying engineeringEngineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, pharmacy
Pharmacy
Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...
, architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
, and law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
. This has changed moderately in recent years as nearly 60% of all Saudi university students are female. Some fields, such as law and pharmacy, are beginning to open up for women. Saudi women can also study any subject they wish while abroad. However, customs of male guardianship and purdah
Purdah
Purdah or pardeh is the practice of concealing women from men. According to one definition:This takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes, and the requirement for women to cover their bodies and conceal their form....
curtail women's ability to study abroad. In 1992, three times as many men studied abroad on government scholarships, although the ratio had been near 50 percent in the early '80s.
Women are primarily encouraged to study service industries or social sciences. Education, medicine, public administration, natural sciences, social sciences, and Islamic studies are deemed appropriate for women. Of all female university graduates in 2007, 93 percent had degrees in education or social sciences.
The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology is a public research university located in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.KAUST was founded in 2009 and focuses exclusively on graduate education and research, using English as the official language of instruction...
, which opened in September 2009, is Saudi Arabia's first coeducational campus where men and women study alongside each other. Women are allowed to attend classes with men, may drive on campus, and are not required to veil themselves. In its inaugural year, 15% of the students were female, all of whom had studied at foreign universities. Classes are taught in English. The opening of the university caused intense public debate. Addressing the issue, Sheikh Ahmad Qassim Al-Ghamdi, chief of the Makkah region’s mutaween
Mutaween
The word mutaween most literally means "volunteers" in the Arabic language, and is commonly used as a casual term for the government-authorized or government-recognized religious police of Saudi Arabia....
, claimed that gender segregation has no basis in Shariah, or Islamic law, and has been incorrectly applied in the Saudi judicial system. Al-Ghamdi said that hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
, the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, makes no references to gender segregation, and mixing is therefore permitted under Shariah. There were many calls for (and rumors of) his dismissal.
Technology is a central part of higher education for women. Many women's colleges use distance education
Distance education
Distance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom...
(from home) to compensate for women's poor access to transportation. Male lecturers are not allowed to lecture at women's classes. Since there are few female lecturers, some universities use videoconferencing
Videoconferencing
Videoconferencing is the conduct of a videoconference by a set of telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously...
to have male professors teach female students without face-to-face contact.
Child marriage
Child marriage
Child marriage and child betrothal customs occur in various times and places, whereby children are given in matrimony - before marriageable age as defined by the commentator and often before puberty. Today such customs are fairly widespread in parts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America: in...
hinders the cause of women's education, because traditional responsibilities and child-bearing are too burdensome. The drop-out rate of girls increases around puberty, as they exchange education for marriage. Roughly 25% of college-aged young women do not attend college, and in 2005–2006, women had a 60% dropout rate.
In 2009, the king appointed Norah al-Faiz
Norah al-Faiz
Norah Abdallah al-Faiz is the first female member of the Saudi Arabia Council of Ministers.King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia appointed al-Faiz as the vice minister for women's education....
a deputy minister for women's education, the first female cabinet-level official.
Sports
Saudi Arabia was one of the few countries in the 2008 Olympics without a female delegation—women's sports are strongly discouraged in principle, although some teams do exist.Mobility
Women’s freedom of movement is very limited in Saudi Arabia. They are not supposed to leave their houses or their local neighbourhood without the permission of their male guardian, and company of a mahramMahram
In Islamic sharia legal terminology, a mahram is an unmarriageable kin with whom sexual intercourse would be considered incestuous, a punishable taboo...
(close male relative). However, out of necessity most women leave the house alone and often have contact with unrelated men to shop or conduct business.
Women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, although it is often tolerated in rural areas. Saudi Arabia has no written ban on women driving, but Saudi law requires citizens to use a locally issued license while in the country. Such licenses are not issued to women, thus making it effectively illegal for women to drive. Furthermore, most Saudi scholars and religious authorities have declared women driving haram
Haraam
Haraam is an Arabic term meaning "forbidden", or "sacred". In Islam it is used to refer to anything that is prohibited by the word of Allah in the Qur'an or the Hadith Qudsi. Haraam is the highest status of prohibition given to anything that would result in sin when a Muslim commits it...
(forbidden). Commonly given reasons for the prohibition on women driving include:
- Driving a car involves uncovering the face which is considered obligatory for women to cover in Saudi.
- Driving a car may lead women to go out of the house more often.
- Driving a car may lead women to have interaction with non-mahram males, for example at traffic accidents.
- Women driving cars may lead to overcrowding the streets and many young men may be deprived of the opportunity to drive.
- Driving would be the first step in an erosion of traditional values, such as gender segregation.
Women are generally discouraged from using public transport. It is technically forbidden, but unenforced, for women to take taxis or hire private drivers, as it results in khalwa
Khalwa
Khalwa .-Retreat:In Sufism, a solitary retreat, traditionally for 40 days , during which a disciple does extensive spiritual exercises under the direction of a sufi master...
(illegal mixing with a non-mahram
Mahram
In Islamic sharia legal terminology, a mahram is an unmarriageable kin with whom sexual intercourse would be considered incestuous, a punishable taboo...
man). Women have limited access to bus and train services. Where it is allowed, they must use a separate entrance and sit in a back section reserved for women. But the bus companies with the widest coverage in Riyadh
Riyadh
Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a...
and Jeddah
Jeddah
Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...
do not allow women at all.
Critics reject the ban on driving on the grounds that 1) it is not supported by the Qu'ran, 2) it causes violation of gender segregation customs, by needlessly forcing women to take taxis with male drivers, 3) it is an inordinate financial burden on families, causing the average woman to spend 30 percent of her income on taxis, 4) it impedes the education and employment of women, both of which tend to require commuting. In addition, male drivers are a frequent source of complaints of sexual harassment, and the public transport system is widely regarded as unreliable and dangerous.
King Abdullah has said that he wants women to drive when the society is ready for it:
I believe strongly in the rights of women. My mother is a woman. My sister is a woman. My daughter is a woman. My wife is a woman. I believe the day will come when women will drive. In fact if you look at the areas of Saudi Arabia, the desert, and in the rural areas, you will find that women do drive. The issue will require patience. In time I believe that it will be possible. I believe that patience is a virtue.
On Nov. 6th, 1990, about 20 Saudi women illegally drove the streets of Riyadh in protest of the ban on Saudi women drivers. The women were eventually surrounded by curious onlookers and stopped by traffic cops, who took them into custody. They were released after their male guardians signed statements that they would not drive again, but thousands of leaflets with their names and their husbands' names - with "whores" and "pimps" scrawled next to them - circulated around the city. The women were suspended from jobs, had their passports confiscated, and were told not to speak to the press. About a year after the protest, they returned to work and received their passports, but they were kept under surveillance and passed over for promotions.
In 2008, advocates for the right of women to drive in Saudi Arabia collected about 1,000 signatures, hoping to persuade King Abdullah to lift the ban, but they were unsuccessful.
On International Women's Day
International Women's Day
International Women's Day , originally called International Working Women’s Day, is marked on March 8 every year. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and...
2008, the Saudi feminist activist Wajeha al-Huwaider
Wajeha al-Huwaider
Wajeha al-Huwaider is a female Saudi activist and writer. She is a co-founder of The Association for the Protection and Defense of Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia....
posted a YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
video of herself driving in a rural area (where it is tolerated), and requesting a universal right for women to drive. She commented: "I would like to congratulate every group of women that has been successful in gaining rights. And I hope that every woman that remains fighting for her rights receives them soon." Another women's driving campaign started during the 2011 Saudi Arabian protests
2011 Saudi Arabian protests
The 2011 Saudi Arabian protests have been influenced by the Arab Spring that started with the 2011 Tunisian revolution. One of the main online organisers of a planned 11 March "Day of Rage", Faisal Ahmed Abdul-Ahad , was alleged to have been killed by Saudi security forces on 2 March, by which time...
. Al-Huwaider filmed Manal al-Sharif
Manal al-Sharif
Manal al-Sharif is a women's rights activist from Saudi Arabia who helped start a women's right to drive campaign in 2011. A women's rights activist who had previously filmed herself driving, Wajeha al-Huwaider, filmed al-Sharif driving a car as part of the campaign. The video was posted on YouTube...
driving in Khobar
Khobar
Khobar is a large city located in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the Persian Gulf. It has a population of 360,000 and forms part of the greater Dammam metropolitan area along with Dhahran, which together have a combined population of over two million...
and the video was published on YouTube and Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
. , the campaign proposes that women start driving from 17 June 2011.
Skepticism is common about possible change in Saudi Arabia's deeply religious and patriarchal society, where many believe that allowing women the right to drive could lead to Western-style openness and an erosion of traditional values.
In early 2010, the government began considering a proposal to create a nation-wide women-only bus system. Activists are divided on the proposal, some saying it will reduce sexual harassment and transportation expenses, while facilitating women entering the workforce. Others criticize it as an escape from the real issue of recognizing women's right to drive.
Many of the laws controlling women apply to citizens of other countries who are relatives of Saudi men. For example, the following women require a male guardian's permission to leave the country: American-citizen women married to Saudi men, adult American-citizen women who are the unmarried daughters of Saudi fathers, and American-citizen boys under the age of 21 with a Saudi father.
In July 2011 a woman from Jeddah
Jeddah
Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...
was sentenced to ten lashes by whip for driving a car. In contrast to this punishment activists pointed out that the maximum penalty for a traffic violation was a fine. Previously when women were found driving they would normally be questioned and forced to sign a pledge stating they will never drive again. The whipping sentence followed a campaign in June to push for women's rights to drive as well as just two days after King Abdullah made a promise to protect women's rights. King Abdullah overturned the sentence.
Political life
Saudi Arabia is a monarchy, with a Consultive Council (shuraShura
Shura is an Arabic word for "consultation". The Quran and Muhammad encourage Muslims to decide their affairs in consultation with those who will be affected by that decision....
) of lawmakers appointed by the king. Only men 30 years of age and older may serve as lawmakers.
Women could not vote or run for office in the country's first municipal elections, in 2005, however the King has promised them a right to vote in 2015. In September 2011, King Abdullah
King Abdullah
-Current monarchs:*Abdullah of Saudi Arabia , regent of Saudi Arabia since 1999 and king since 2005*Abdullah II of Jordan , king of Jordan since 1999-Previous monarchs:*Abdullah I of Jordan , king of Transjordan...
announced that women would be allowed to vote and run for office in the 2015 municipal elections.
Women are allowed to hold positions on boards of chambers of commerce. In 2008, two women were elected to the board of the Jeddah
Jeddah
Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...
Chamber of Commerce and Industry. There are no women on the High Court or the Supreme Judicial Council. There is one woman in a cabinet-level position, as deputy minister for women's education. In 2010, the government announced female lawyers would be allowed to represent women in family cases.
In court, the testimony of one man equals that of two women. Female parties to court proceedings generally must deputize male relatives to speak on their behalf.
Identity cards
Prior to 2008, women were not allowed to enter hotels and furnished apartments when unaccompanied by a mahramMahram
In Islamic sharia legal terminology, a mahram is an unmarriageable kin with whom sexual intercourse would be considered incestuous, a punishable taboo...
. With a 2008 Royal Decree, however, the only requirement needed to allow women to enter hotels are their national identification cards, and the hotel must inform the nearest police station of their room reservation and length of stay, which is the law there for men too.
In April 2010, a new, optional ID card for women was issued which allows them to travel in countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council
Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf
The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf , also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council , is a political and economic union of the Arab states bordering the Persian Gulf and constituting the Arabian Peninsula, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates...
. The cards include GPS tracking, fingerprints and features that make them difficult to forge. Women do not need male permission to apply for the card, but do need it to travel abroad. Proponents argue that new female identity cards enable a woman to carry out her activities with ease, and prevent forgeries committed in the name of women.
Traditionally, women in Saudi Arabia are registered on their father's or husband's identification card. The Ulema
Ulema
Ulama , also spelt ulema, refers to the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in the several fields of Islamic studies. They are best known as the arbiters of shari‘a law...
, Saudi's religious authorities, oppose the idea of issuing separate identity cards for women. Many other conservative Saudi citizens argue that cards, which show a woman's unveiled face, violate purdah
Purdah
Purdah or pardeh is the practice of concealing women from men. According to one definition:This takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes, and the requirement for women to cover their bodies and conceal their form....
and Saudi custom.
Marriage
In 2005, the country’s religious authority banned the practice of forced marriageForced marriage
Forced marriage is a term used to describe a marriage in which one or both of the parties is married without his or her consent or against his or her will...
. However, practically, females are not involved in making decisions surrounding their own marriages. The marriage contract is officially between the husband-to-be and the father of the bride.
Polygamy
Polygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
is legal in Saudi Arabia. Saudi men may take as many as four wives, provided that they can support all wives equally. It is reportedly in decline. Polyandry
Polyandry
Polyandry refers to a form of marriage in which a woman has two or more husbands at the same time. The form of polyandry in which a woman is married to two or more brothers is known as "fraternal polyandry", and it is believed by many anthropologists to be the most frequently encountered...
is forbidden.
Women cannot marry non-Muslim men unless they obtain official permission.
Children
There are no laws defining the minimum age for marriage in Saudi Arabia. Most religious authorities have justified the marriage of girls as young as 9 and boys as young as 15. However, they believe a father can marry off his daughter at any age as long as sexual intercourseSexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
is delayed until she reaches puberty. A 2009 think-tank report on women's education concluded "Early marriage (before 16 years) ... negatively influences their chances of employment and the economic status of the family. It also negatively affects their health as they are at greater risk of dying from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth." A 2004 United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
report found that 16 percent of teenage Saudi women were or had been married.
A 2010 news report documented the case of Shareefa, an abandoned child-bride. Shareefa was married to an 80-year-old man when she was 10. The deal was arranged by the girl's father in exchange for money, against the wishes of her mother. Her husband divorced her a few months after the marriage without her knowledge, and abandoned her at the age of 21. The mother is attempting legal action, arguing that "Shareefa is now 21, she has lost more than 10 years of her life, her chance for an education, a decent marriage and normal life. Who is going to take responsibility for what she has gone through?”
The government's Saudi Human Rights Commission condemned child marriage in 2009, calling it "a clear violation against children and their psychological, moral and physical rights." It recommended that marriage officials adhere to a minimum age of 17 for females and 18 for males.
Female genital cutting
Female genital cutting
Female genital mutilation , also known as female genital cutting and female circumcision, is defined by the World Health Organization as "all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons."FGM...
is reported as rare, possibly occurring among minorities such as African immigrants, Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
, or Shiites. Some organizations are skeptical that official statistics can be trusted, because of the government's censorship of sensitive information and restrictions on independent aid organizations.
Parental authority
In the area of parental authority, legally, children belong to their father who has sole guardianship. If a divorce takes place, women may be granted custody of their young children until they reach the age of seven. Older children are often awarded to the father or the paternal grandparents. Women cannot confer citizenship to children born to a non-Saudi Arabian father.Inheritance issues
The inheritance share of women in Saudi is generally smaller than that to which men are entitled. The Qu'ran states that daughters should inherit half as much as sons. In rural areas, some women are also deprived of their entitled share as they are considered to be dependents of their fathers or husbands. Marrying outside the tribe is also grounds for limiting women's inheritance.Sexual violence and trafficking
Under Sharia law, generally enforced by the government, the courts will punish a rapist with anything from flogging to execution. As there is no penal code in Saudi Arabia, there is no written law which specifically criminalizes rape or prescribes its punishment. The rape victim is often punished as well, if she had first entered the rapist's company in violation of purdahPurdah
Purdah or pardeh is the practice of concealing women from men. According to one definition:This takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes, and the requirement for women to cover their bodies and conceal their form....
. There is no prohibition against spousal or statutory rape. Most rape cases are unreported, because victims fear namus
Namus
Namus is the Arabic word of a concept of an ethical category, a virtue, in Middle Eastern patriarchal character...
, reduced marriage prospects, accusations of adultery, or imprisonment.
Migrant women, often working as domestic helpers, represent a particularly vulnerable group and their living conditions are sometimes slave-like and include physical oppression and rape. In 2006, U.S. ambassador John Miller, Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons is an agency within the United States Department of State charged with investigating and creating programs to prevent human trafficking both within the United States and internationally. The office also presents the Trafficking in Persons...
, said the forced labor of foreign women domestic worker
Domestic worker
A domestic worker is a man, woman or child who works within the employer's household. Domestic workers perform a variety of household services for an individual or a family, from providing care for children and elderly dependents to cleaning and household maintenance, known as housekeeping...
s was the most common kind of slavery in Saudi Arabia. Miller claimed human tracking is a problem everywhere, but Saudi Arabia's many foreign domestic workers and loopholes in the system cause many to fall victim to abuse and torture.
Women, as well as men, may be subject to harassment by the country’s religious police, the mutaween
Mutaween
The word mutaween most literally means "volunteers" in the Arabic language, and is commonly used as a casual term for the government-authorized or government-recognized religious police of Saudi Arabia....
, in some cases including arbitrary arrest and physical punishments. A UN
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
report cites a case in which two mutaween were charged with molesting a woman; the charges were dismissed on the grounds that mutaween are immune from prosecution.
In some cases, victims of sexual assault are punished for khalwa, being alone with an unrelated male, prior to the assault. In the Qatif girl rape case
Qatif girl rape case
The "Qatif Girl" Rape Case is a much-publicized gang-rape case. The victim was a teenage girl from Qatif , who, along with her male companion, was kidnapped and gang-raped by seven Saudi men in mid-2006. A Saudi Sharia court sentenced the perpetrators to varying sentences involving 80 to 1,000...
, an 18-year old victim of kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
and gang rape was sentenced by a Saudi court to six months in prison and 200 lashes. The judge ruled she violated laws on segregation of the sexes, as she was in an unrelated man's car at the time of the attack. She was also punished for trying to influence the court through the media. The Ministry of Justice defended the sentence, saying she committed adultery and "provoked the attack" because she was "indecently dressed". Her attackers were found guilty of kidnapping and were sentenced for prison terms ranging from two to ten years. According to Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
, one of the rapists filmed the assault with his mobile phone but the judges refused to allow it as evidence. The victim told ABC News that her brother tried to kill her after the attack. The case attracted international attention. The United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
criticized social attitudes and the system of male guardianship, which deter women from reporting crimes. The UN report argued that women are prevented from escaping abusive environments because of their lack of legal and economic independence. They are further oppressed, according to the UN, by practices surrounding divorce and child custody, the absence of a law criminalizing violence against women, and inconsistencies in the application of laws and procedures. The case prompted American Muslim journalist Mona Eltahawy to comment "What kind of God would punish a woman for rape? That is a question that Muslims must ask of Saudi Arabia because unless we challenge the determinedly anti-women teachings of Islam in Saudi Arabia, that kingdom will always get a free pass." In December 2007, King Abdullah
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, is the King of Saudi Arabia. He succeeded to the throne on 1 August 2005 upon the death of his half-brother, King Fahd. When Crown Prince, he governed Saudi Arabia as regent from 1998 to 2005...
pardoned the victim, but did not agree that the judge had erred.
In 2009, the Saudi Gazette
Saudi Gazette
Saudi Gazette is the leading English language daily newspaper published in Saudi Arabia. and is currently available both in print and online.As of July 1, 2011, Dr Omar S. Elmershedi is the Saudi Gazette Editor-in-Chief.Managing Editor: Shams Ahsan...
reported that a 23-year-old unmarried woman was sentenced to one year in prison and 100 lashes for adultery. She had been gang-raped, become pregnant, and tried unsuccessfully to abort the fetus. The flogging was postponed until after the delivery.
Change
Trends in the enforcement of Islamic code have influenced women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. The Iranian RevolutionIranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
and September 11 attacks constitute recent inflection points in Saudi cultural history.
In 1979, the Iranian Revolution led to a resurgence of fundamentalism in many parts of the Islamic world. Fundamentalists sought to repel Westernization, and governments sought to defend themselves against revolution. In Saudi Arabia, fundamentalists occupied the Grand Mosque (Masjid al-Haram)
Grand Mosque Seizure
The Grand Mosque Seizure on November 20, 1979, was an armed attack and takeover by Islamist dissidents of the Al-Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest place in Islam...
and demanded a more conservative Islamic state, including "an end of education of women". The government responded with stricter interpretations and enforcement of Islamic laws. Newspapers were discouraged from publishing images of women; the Interior Ministry discouraged women from employment, including expatriates. Scholarships for women to study abroad declined. Wearing the abaya
Abaya
The abaya "cloak" , sometimes also called an aba, is a simple, loose over-garment, essentially a robe-like dress, worn by some women in parts of the Islamic world including in Turkey, North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula....
in public became mandatory.
In contrast, the September 11 attacks against the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
in 2001 precipitated a reaction against ultra-conservative Islamic sentiment; fifteen of the nineteen hijackers on 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia. Since then, the mutaween
Mutaween
The word mutaween most literally means "volunteers" in the Arabic language, and is commonly used as a casual term for the government-authorized or government-recognized religious police of Saudi Arabia....
have become less active, and reformists have been appointed to key government posts. The government says it has withdrawn support from schools deemed extremist, and moderated school textbooks.
The government under King Abdullah
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, is the King of Saudi Arabia. He succeeded to the throne on 1 August 2005 upon the death of his half-brother, King Fahd. When Crown Prince, he governed Saudi Arabia as regent from 1998 to 2005...
is regarded as moderately progressive. It has opened the country's first co-educational university, appointed the first female cabinet member, and prohibited domestic violence. Gender segregation has relaxed, although it is still the norm. Critics say the reform is far too slow, and often more symbolic than substantive. Conservative clerics have successfully rebuffed attempts to outlaw child marriage. Women were not allowed to vote in the country's first municipal elections, although the King supports a woman's right to drive and vote. The few female government officials have minimal power. Norah Al-Faiz, the first female cabinet member, will not appear without her veil, appear on television without permission, or talk to male colleagues except by videoconferencing. She opposes girls' school sports as premature.
The government has made international commitments to women's rights. It ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women is an international convention adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly....
, with the proviso that the convention could not override Islamic law. However, government officials told the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
that there is no contradiction with Islam. The degree of compliance between government commitments and practice is disputed. A 2009 report by the UN
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
questioned whether any international law ratified by the government has ever been applied inside Saudi Arabia.
Some of the recently appointed female advisors to parliament (shurah) believe slow reform is effective. According to Dr. Nora Alyousif, "The Saudi leadership is working hard on reform and supporting women … Seventy years ago we were completely isolated from the world. The changes which are taking place are unmistakable, and we have finally started opening up." Dr. Maha Almuneef says, “There are small steps now. There are giant steps coming. But most Saudis have been taught the traditional ways. You can't just change the social order all at once."
Local and international women's groups are pushing governments for reform, taking advantage of the fact that some rulers are eager to project a more progressive image to the West. The presence of powerful businesswomen—still a rare breed—in some of these groups helps get them heard.
Lubna Olayan
Lubna Olayan
Lubna Suliman Olayan is a Saudi business woman. Born to Suliman Olayan and Maryam bint Jassim Al Abdulwahab. Considered to be one of the most influential businesswomen in the world; as was listed as one of the top 100 most influential people of 2005 by Time magazine, and has continued to be on the...
, the CEO of Olayan
Olayan Group
The Olayan Group , is a Saudi conglomerate established in 1947 by Sulaiman S. Olayan and his son Khaled S. Olayan . The Olayan Group traces its origins back to the General Contracting Company , founded to work on the construction of the Trans-Arabian Pipeline alongside the American contracting...
Financing Company, is a well-known advocate for women's rights. She was the first woman to address a mixed-gender business audience in Saudi Arabia, speaking at the Jeddah Economic Forum
Jeddah Economic Forum
Jeddah Economic Forum is a forum held annually since 1999 during winter in Jeddah, western Saudi Arabia. It has become the region's strategic think tank focusing on regional and international economic and social issues...
in 2004. She used the occasion to advocate for economic equality:
My vision is of a country with a prosperous and diversified economy in which any Saudi citizen, irrespective of gender who is serious about finding employment, can find a job in the field for which he or she is best qualified, leading to a thriving middle class and in which all Saudi citizens, residents or visitors to the country feel safe and can live in an atmosphere where mutual respect and tolerance exist among all, regardless of their social class, religion or gender.
Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
and Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazines have named Lubna Olayan
Lubna Olayan
Lubna Suliman Olayan is a Saudi business woman. Born to Suliman Olayan and Maryam bint Jassim Al Abdulwahab. Considered to be one of the most influential businesswomen in the world; as was listed as one of the top 100 most influential people of 2005 by Time magazine, and has continued to be on the...
one of the world's most influential women. The Grand Mufti
Grand Mufti
The title of Grand Mufti refers to the highest official of religious law in a Sunni or Ibadi Muslim country. The Grand Mufti issues legal opinions and edicts, fatwā, on interpretations of Islamic law for private clients or to assist judges in deciding cases...
, Abdul-Azeez ibn Abdullaah Aal ash-Shaikh
Abdul-Azeez ibn Abdullaah Aal ash-Shaikh
Abd al-'Aziz ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Lateef Aal ash-Shaikh is a Muslim scholar and the current Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia.-Biography:...
condemned the event, saying "Allowing women to mix with men is the root of every evil and catastrophe ... It is highly punishable. Mixing of men and women is a reason for greater decadence and adultery."
Wajeha al-Huwaider
Wajeha al-Huwaider
Wajeha al-Huwaider is a female Saudi activist and writer. She is a co-founder of The Association for the Protection and Defense of Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia....
is often described as the most radical and prominent feminist activist in Saudi Arabia. In a 2008 interview, she described plans for an NGO called The Association for the Protection and Defense of Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia. She described the goals of the organization:
Among the issues that have been raised, and that are of the utmost importance, are: representation for women in shari'a courts; setting a [minimum] age for girls' marriages; allowing women to take care of their own affairs in government agencies and allowing them to enter government buildings; protecting women from domestic violence, such as physical or verbal violence, or keeping her from studies, work, or marriage, or forcing her to divorce ... We need laws to protect women from these aggressions and violations of their rights as human beings. And there is also [the need to] prevent girls' circumcision ... We truly have a great need for a Ministry of Women's Affairs to deal with women's rights, issues of motherhood and infancy, and women's health in rural areas… This is our ultimate goal ...
In 2008, the government warned The Association for the Protection and Defense of Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia not to hold any protests.
Saudis frequently debate the right way to bring about change. Those who oppose radical activists like Wajeha al-Huwaider
Wajeha al-Huwaider
Wajeha al-Huwaider is a female Saudi activist and writer. She is a co-founder of The Association for the Protection and Defense of Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia....
fear that an all or nothing approach to women's rights will spur a backlash against any change. Journalist Sabria Jawhar
Sabria Jawhar
Sabria Salama Murjan Jawhar is a Saudi Arabian journalist and columnist for the Jeddah-based Saudi Gazette and has an expertise in Arabic/English linguistics. She also writes for English-language news outlets, including The Huffington Post, and serves as an academic lecturer in the field of...
dismisses Huwaider as a show-off: "The problem with some Saudi activists is that they want to make wholesale changes that are contrary to Islam, which requires a mahram for traveling women. If one wonders why great numbers of Saudi women don't join Al-Huwaider it's because they are asked to defy Islam. Al-Huwaider's all or nothing position undercuts her credibility."
Retaliation against women's rights activism has some precedent. Immediately following Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Saudi women launched a campaign for more rights. Forty-seven women drove illegally through Riyadh, in protest against the ban on driving. Activists presented a petition to King Fahd
Fahd of Saudi Arabia
Fahd bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, was King of Saudi Arabia from 1982 to 2005...
requesting "basic legal and social rights." Subsequently, a feminist leader was arrested and tortured. Fundamentalists demanded strict punishment of the women who had driven in protest, and denounced activists as "whores." The mutaween
Mutaween
The word mutaween most literally means "volunteers" in the Arabic language, and is commonly used as a casual term for the government-authorized or government-recognized religious police of Saudi Arabia....
enforced the dress code more aggressively.
Many believe slow change is the only kind possible. History professor Hatoon al-Fassi says recent campaigns for women’s rights have opened up public discourse on topics such as child marriage and rape. "It's an exaggeration to call it a women's movement. But we are proud to say that something is going on in Saudi Arabia. We are not really free, but it is possible for women to express themselves as never before." Nonetheless, she says Westerners do not understand Saudi culture and how potentially traumatic change can be: “People had lived their whole lives doing one thing and believing one thing, and suddenly the king and the major clerics were saying that mixing was O.K. You can’t begin to imagine the impact that the ban on mixing has on our lives and what lifting this ban would mean.”
Others regard the current pace of change as much too slow, and activism as too limited. Sumayya Jabarti, editor of the Arab News
Arab News
Arab News is an English-language daily newspaper published in Saudi Arabia, in the cities of Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dammam. The Editor-in-Chief is Khaled Al-Maeena. The publisher of Arab News is Saudi Research & Publishing Company , a subsidiary of Saudi Research & Marketing Group .Arab News was...
, says there are too many women with decision-making power who are like "queen bees," doing nothing to question the status quo. "People say things are changing for women because they are comparing it to before, when things were below zero. People say 'change,' but it is all relative and it is very, very limited ... Change is not coming, we are taking it ... I don't think the way is paved. I think we are building it through the route taken ... Most of the time, we are walking in place."
Most Saudis oppose mixed workplaces and women driving in cities. Most women want to wear the veil and do not think women should hold political office. Many Saudis view their country as “the closest thing to an ideal and pure Islamic nation”, and therefore most in need of resistance to Western values. Conservative cleric Mohsen al-Awajy says the country must resist secularization: "Saudi society is a special, tribal society, and neither King Abdullah or anyone else can impose his own interpretation of Islam. They can do nothing without Islam. There is no Saudi Arabia without Islam."
Princess Loulwa Al-Faisal describes herself as a conservative, advocating change that is gradual and consistent with Islam. A member of the royal family
House of Saud
The House of Saud , also called the Al Saud, is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia and one of the wealthiest and most powerful dynasties in the world. The family holds thousands of members...
, she argues that Islam sees women's rights as equal but different, which "Together, add up to a secure society that works". Princess Al-Faisal argues "The ultra-conservatives and the ultra-liberals both want the same thing, the destruction of the Islamic way. We are preserving it ... There are problems mostly with the way the law is interpreted, mostly in the courts, but those are changing." According to Princess Al-Faisal, Saudi women are better off than Western women in some ways: "their property is inviolable and that men have a duty to look after them". The lack of modesty in the West is "bad for the children". Nonetheless, she supports the women's suffrage in municipal elections. When Thomas Friedman
Thomas Friedman
Thomas Lauren Friedman is an American journalist, columnist and author. He writes a twice-weekly column for The New York Times. He has written extensively on foreign affairs including global trade, the Middle East, and environmental issues and has won the Pulitzer Prize three times.-Personal...
asked her what she would do if she were "queen for a day", she replied "First thing, I'd let women drive".
Prince Nayef, a possible heir to the throne, is considered more conservative than King Abdullah. He has said there is no need for women to serve as members of parliament or elected officials.
New technology
Gender segregation has produced great enthusiasm for innovative communications technology, especially when it is anonymous. Saudis were early adopters of BluetoothBluetooth
Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
technology, as men and women use it to communicate secretly.
Saudi women use online social networking as a way to share ideas they cannot share publicly. As one woman put it:
In Saudi Arabia, we live more of a virtual life than a real life. I know people who are involved in on-line romances with people they have never met in real life ... And many of us use Facebook for other things, like talking about human rights and women's rights. We can protest on Facebook about the jailing of a blogger which is something we couldn't do on the streets.
Some conservative clerics have called for Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
to be banned because it causes gender mingling. One cleric called it a "door to lust" and cause of "social strife".
Foreign views
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
's treatment of non-whites during South Africa's apartheid era
History of South Africa in the apartheid era
Apartheid was a system of racial segregation enforced by the National Party governments of South Africa between 1948 and 1994, under which the rights of the majority 'non-white' inhabitants of South Africa were curtailed and white supremacy and Afrikaner minority rule was maintained...
. As evidence, they cite restrictions on travel, fields of study, choice of profession, access to the courts, and political speech. The New York Times writes, "Saudi women are denied many of the same rights that 'Blacks' and 'Coloreds' were denied in apartheid South Africa and yet the kingdom still belongs to the very same international community that kicked Pretoria out of its club."
Some commentators have argued that Saudi gender policies constitute a crime against humanity
Crime against humanity
Crimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, "are particularly odious offenses in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings...
, and warrant intervention from the international community. They criticize the U.S. government for publicizing oppression by enemies such as the Taliban, even though its allies, like Saudi Arabia, have similar policies. Mary Kaldor
Mary Kaldor
Mary Kaldor is a British academic, currently Professor of Global Governance at the London School of Economics, where she is also the Director of its Centre for the Study of Global Governance. She has been a key figure in the development of cosmopolitan democracy...
views gender apartheid
Gender apartheid
The term gender apartheid, like sex apartheid, is a term used to describe economic and social sexual discrimination against women, including strict sex segregation, as well as an "absence of justice for women in much of the non-Western world." It is used especially to describe treatment of women...
in Saudi Arabia as similar to that enforced by the Taliban in Afghanistan. In contrast, political commentator Daniel Pipes
Daniel Pipes
Daniel Pipes is an American historian, writer, and political commentator. He is the founder and director of the Middle East Forum and its Campus Watch project, and editor of its Middle East Quarterly journal...
, sees Saudi gender apartheid as tempered by other practices, such as allowing women to attend school and work.
Critics also blame Western corporations that cooperate in enforcing segregation. American chains such as Starbucks and Pizza Hut maintain separate eating areas; the men’s areas are typically high-quality, whereas the women’s are rundown or lack seats. In a 2001 column, Washington Post editor Colbert I. King
Colbert I. King
Colbert I. King is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Washington Post. He is deputy editor of the Posts editorial page....
commented:
As with Saudi Arabia, white-ruled South Africa viewed external criticism as a violation of its sovereignty and interference with its internal affairs. And U.S. corporations in South Africa, as with their Saudi Arabian counterparts, pleaded that they had no choice but to defer to the local "culture."
King wonders why there is nothing like the Sullivan Principles
Sullivan Principles
The Sullivan principles are the names of two corporate codes of conduct, developed by the African-American preacher Rev. Leon Sullivan, promoting corporate social responsibility:...
for gender-based discrimination. Journalist Anne Applebaum
Anne Applebaum
Anne Elizabeth Applebaum is a journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author who has written extensively about communism and the development of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. She has been an editor at The Economist, and a member of the editorial board of The Washington Post...
argues that gender apartheid in South Africa even gets a free pass from American feminists. She questions why American civil rights leaders like Jesse Jackson were active in protesting South Africa’s racial apartheid, but American feminists rarely venture beyond reproductive rights when discussing international politics: “Until this changes, it will be hard to mount a campaign, in the manner of the anti-apartheid movement, to enforce sanctions or codes of conduct for people doing business there.”
Cultural relativism
Cultural relativism
Cultural relativism is the principle that an individual human's beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individual's own culture. This principle was established as axiomatic in anthropological research by Franz Boas in the first few decades of the 20th century and...
is the root of activist inaction, according to feminists such as Azar Majedi
Azar Majedi
Azar Majedi is an Iranian communist activist, Chairperson of Organization for Women's Liberation and one of the leaders of the Worker-Communist Party of Iran.-External links:* * * * Interview with Azar Majedi...
, Pamela Bone, and Maryam Namazie
Maryam Namazie
Maryam Namazie is a human rights activist, commentator and broadcaster. Namazie has served as the executive director of the International Federation of Iranian Refugees. She is spokesperson for the One Law for All Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain. The campaign is opposed to faith based laws...
. They argue that political Islam
Political aspects of Islam
Political aspects of Islam are derived from the Qur'an, the Sunna , Muslim history, and elements of political movements outside Islam....
is misogynist
Misogyny
Misogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Philogyny, meaning fondness, love or admiration towards women, is the antonym of misogyny. The term misandry is the term for men that is parallel to misogyny...
, and the desire of Western liberals to tolerate Islam blinds them to women’s rights violations. Majedi and Namazie, both born in Iran, consider cultural relativism racist: “To put it bluntly, according to this concept, because of my birthplace, I should enjoy fewer rights relative to a woman born in Sweden, England, or France.” Pamela Bone argues feminist apathy is supported by “the dreary cultural relativism that pervades the thinking of so many of those once described as on the Left. We are no better than they are. We should not impose our values on them. We can criticise only our own. The problem with this mindset is that, with all its faults, Western culture is clearly, objectively, better.” Bone argues that cultural relativism comes from a fear that criticizing Islam will be considered racist.
Ann Elizabeth Mayer
Ann Elizabeth Mayer
Ann Elizabeth Mayer is an Associate Professor of Legal Studies in the Department of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.- Biography :...
, an American specialist in Islamic law, sees gender apartheid as enshrined in the Saudi Basic Law
Basic Law of Saudi Arabia
The Basic Law of Saudi Arabia is a constitution-like charter divided into nine chapters, consisting of 83 articles...
:
Article 9. The family is the kernel of Saudi society, and its members shall be brought up on the basis of the Islamic faith, and loyalty and obedience to Allah, His Messenger, and to guardians; respect for and implementation of the law, and love of and pride in the homeland and its glorious history as the Islamic faith stipulates.
Article 10. The state will aspire to strengthen family ties, maintain its Arab and Islamic values and care for all its members, and to provide the right conditions for the growth of their resources and capabilities.
Mayer argues that Articles 9 and 10 deny women "any opportunity to participate in public law or government".
See also
- Gender apartheidGender apartheidThe term gender apartheid, like sex apartheid, is a term used to describe economic and social sexual discrimination against women, including strict sex segregation, as well as an "absence of justice for women in much of the non-Western world." It is used especially to describe treatment of women...
- Taliban treatment of womenTaliban treatment of womenWhile in power in Afghanistan, the Taliban became notorious internationally for their treatment of women. Their stated aim was to create "secure environments where the chasteness and dignity of women may once again be sacrosanct," reportedly based on Pashtunwali beliefs about living in purdah.Women...
- LGBT rights in Saudi Arabia
- Women in Arab societiesWomen in Arab societiesWomen in the Arab world, as in other areas of the world, have throughout history experienced discrimination and have been subject to restrictions of their freedoms and rights. Some of these practices are based on religious beliefs, but many of the limitations are cultural and emanate from tradition...
- MutaweenMutaweenThe word mutaween most literally means "volunteers" in the Arabic language, and is commonly used as a casual term for the government-authorized or government-recognized religious police of Saudi Arabia....
(Islamic religious police) - Qatif girl rape caseQatif girl rape caseThe "Qatif Girl" Rape Case is a much-publicized gang-rape case. The victim was a teenage girl from Qatif , who, along with her male companion, was kidnapped and gang-raped by seven Saudi men in mid-2006. A Saudi Sharia court sentenced the perpetrators to varying sentences involving 80 to 1,000...
- Human rights in Saudi ArabiaHuman rights in Saudi ArabiaHuman rights in Saudi Arabia are intended to be based on Islamic religious laws under rule of the Saudi royal family. The government of Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi legal system, has been criticized for its treatment of religious and political minorities, homosexuals, apostates, and women...
- Sex segregation in IranSex segregation in Iran-Reza Shah Era:Reza Shah was against sex-segregation and he ordered Tehran University to enroll its first woman in 1936. Reza Shah forcibly unveiled women and promoted their education in the model of Turkey's Ataturk.-After the Islamic Revolution:...
- Sex segregation and Islam
External links
- National Geographic Photo Gallery: Women of Saudi Arabia
- Islam Q&A
- Andrea Dworkin Letters from a War Zone: Writing 1976–1989
- Equality Now http://www.equalitynow.org
- Women's Rights in the Arab World: Are Saudi Women Next? by Mai Yamani
