Women continue to face barriers when applying for national identity cards without the consent of their guardians. According to the Interior Ministry`s website, a woman must prove her identity to obtain an identity card, either by presenting her passport (which a woman cannot obtain without the guardian`s consent), or by a male guardian who confirms her identity, or by a related Saudi woman or two unrelated Saudi women. The website also states that a «housewife. must present a declaration of consent issued by her husband» in order to obtain a national identity card. [219] The kingdom`s male guardianship system, which is part of the state`s adherence to a strict interpretation of the Quran, has repeatedly denied women economic and educational opportunities. If a woman wanted to study abroad and did not have a male relative willing to accompany her, she was forced to give up these opportunities. If a woman wanted to work but did not have permission from her father, husband or male guardian, she could not have a legal job. Because women cannot receive family records and are not seen as guardians of their own children, women find it difficult to simply enroll their children in school. It wasn`t until 2018 that women in the Kingdom were able to drive cars or attend movies or concerts alongside men. «Families can no longer sue their daughters who choose to live alone,» lawyer Naif Al Mansi told the Makkah newspaper.
He added that the courts would no longer accept such cases. In August 2019, a royal decree was published in the Saudi gazette Um al-Qura that would allow Saudi women over the age of 21 to obtain a passport and travel abroad without the permission of a male guardian. The decree also gives women the right to register marriage, divorce or childbirth, or to obtain official family documents; and gave the mother the right to be the guardian of a child. The official effective date of the measures was not indicated in the Order. [24] [25] The group held workshops on this topic and examined Islamic religious arguments regarding male guardianship. [1] Male guardianship is not a law or even a codified body of law. It is a whole system built on the premise that women are «legally minors». Activists have worked to reform elements of the system piecemeal, such as the fatwa against women driving. The impact of these restrictive measures on a woman`s ability to pursue a career or make life choices varies, but depends largely on the goodwill of her male guardian. In some cases, men use the authority conferred on them by the male guardianship system to blackmail women in their family. The guardians made their consent conditional on the women working or travelling on condition that she pay him large sums of money.
The courts support this practice and sometimes affirm a guardian`s right to obedience to his or her relatives, including the obligation to respect their decisions regarding their movement. For example, in November 2015, a Saudi appeals court upheld a 30-lashes verdict for a man for beating and spitting on his wife. According to Arab News, the husband said he beat his wife for leaving the house several times without her permission. The judge reportedly ordered the woman to comply with her husband`s request not to leave the house without his permission. [67] «I am pleased to confirm that Saudi Arabia [the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] will enact amendments to its labor and civil laws aimed at improving the status of Saudi women in our society,» she wrote, «including granting the right to apply for passports and travel independently.» After the launch of Absher, Saudi authorities began informing male guardians of the entry and exit of their female relatives to and from Saudi Arabia via an automatic text message. In 2012, women began loudly criticizing SMS notifications on Twitter. In early 2014, authorities announced that they had suspended SMS notifications. [44] Maysa, 25, said, «You`d think the government would use technology to move forward, but instead it`s backing down.» [45] However, the government has not taken reasonable steps to prevent judges from preventing women from freely choosing their spouses or dissolving marriages when male relatives claim that the status of a spouse, tribal or otherwise, is inadequate. In Saudi Arabia, a woman`s life is controlled by a man from birth to death. Every Saudi woman must have a male guardian, usually a father or husband, but in some cases, a brother or even a son who has the power to make a number of critical decisions on her behalf. Until recently, women in Saudi Arabia were generally treated as minors and required permission from a male relative for a number of critical decisions, such as work, family records, and passport application.
After years of legal discrimination, deeply rigid guidelines for women`s lives in Saudi Arabia are beginning to relax. But there is still a long way to go. Traditionally, a woman`s male guardian is her birth father, and once she is married, her guardian becomes her husband. In other cases, such as when a woman`s father or husband has died, a brother or even his son may serve as a male guardian. All women in Saudi Arabia are subjected to this practice. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Saudi Arabia is a party, stipulates that in all matters concerning children, «the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration». [210] The Convention provides that all children have the right to be heard «in all judicial and administrative proceedings affecting them,» including cases of separation and divorce and circumstances following divorce. [211] Various treaty bodies have addressed gender discrimination in relation to children`s rights. The UN Committee on Discrimination against Women has called on states to ensure that men and women «have the same rights and duties with respect to the guardianship, guardianship, custody and adoption of children. In all cases, the well-being of children comes first. [212] The new laws are expected to take effect at the end of August, according to the Wall Street Journal, which added that radical changes could only be implemented slowly, as many aspects of the guardianship system are maintained by both custom and law.
No country restricts the freedom of movement of its female population more than Saudi Arabia. Women cannot apply for passports or travel outside the country without the permission of a guardian, and women are not allowed to drive. In practice, some women are prevented from leaving their homes without their guardian`s permission, and guardians can take legal action requiring judges to order a dependent woman to return to the family home. The practice of male guardianship in its many forms hinders and, in some cases, suppresses women`s enjoyment of various human rights and violates the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which Saudi Arabia ratified in 2000, and other human rights conventions. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women urges Saudi Arabia «to pursue, by all appropriate means and without delay, a policy of eliminating discrimination against women». [26] Many other treaties and treaty bodies recognize women`s equal rights as men to travel, work, study, access health care, and marry without discrimination.