Progress of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia
Although Saudi Arabia has undergone a significant
transformation regarding women’s rights, gender inequality is still a current
issue in the country
Nowadays increasing attention is being paid to the
issue of gender inequality worldwide and feminist movements are taking place
every second week. However, there are still lots of countries in which there is
a long road to gender equality. The Islamic world is especially infamous for
the oppression of women, but Saudi Arabia is far the most conservative country
in terms of women’s rights.
Women in Saudi Arabia could not exercise some of their
fundamental rights for a long time. The first school for girls, Dar Al Hanan,
opened in 1955 in Riyadh, while the first higher education institution for
women, Riyadh College of Education, was founded only in 1970. In addition, the
first time Saudi Arabian women could own ID cards was in 2001 which was an
essential step in the progress of their rights, as without ID cards they could
not prove their identity so inheritance and property issues were completely out
of the question. In 2005 Saudi Arabia banned forced marriages, but marriage
contracts between the future husband and the father of the bride are still
common.
The participation in politics took women a long time
all over the world. In Saudi Arabia the first female government minister, Noura
al-Fayez, was appointed in 2009 and was responsible for women’s affairs in
education. As for women’s suffrage, it was only in 2015 that women were able to
vote and get elected. In contrast to this, the first country where all women
were allowed to vote was New Zealand in 1893.
Saudi Arabia is also quite strict in the field of sports.
The first time women were allowed to compete on the national team was at the
2012 Olympic Games in London. One of the team members was Sarah Attar, a female
athlete, who ran the women’s 800 meter wearing a headscarf. This was an
important step for the country as well, because if they had not allowed women
to participate in the national team, they might have been banned for gender
discrimination.
Concerning present situation, King Salman of Saud
Arabia has promised several reforms for female citizens. Saudi Arabia is the
only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive, but this seems
to be changing. A royal decree announced in September 2017 that women will be
able to get a driver’s licence without the permission of their male guardian
and they will be able to drive by themselves. The decree will come into effect
in June this year.
Although women’s rights are slowly progressing in
Saudi Arabia, the public behaviour of women is still severely restricted and
their life is highly determined by their male guardianship. Women’s clothing is
governed by strict laws and they need the permission of their guardian for
activities like travelling, getting married or signing contracts. The new
driving law will provide more freedom for women, but at the same time it seems
as if it diverted attention from some more serious issues such as male
guardianship. Today women’s rights activists in the country set the goal of ending
the guardianship in Saudi society; however, given the pace of former progress
in women’s rights, it will need some time to achieve the desired goal.
Sources:
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DW: “Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia: a timeline”
-
CNN: “Women in Saudi Arabia still can’t do these
things”
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The Week: “Six things women in Saudi Arabia cannot do”
-
Independent: “Eight things women still can’t do in
Saudi Arabia”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-womens-rights-driving-ban-lifted-marriage-custody-bank-accounts-travel-medical-a7969551.html
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