Saudi Arabian Women's Rights.

Reality With Bite

Saudi Arabian Women's Rights: Under Islam and Saudi Traditions

Since the ancient history, women have suffered from a lack of basic rights. However, nowadays women all over the world have achieved a high degree of freedom and rights, especially in the western countries such as United Kingdom, France, and the United States. Women in those countries have almost reached equality with men. In contrast, women in the Middle Eastern countries are relatively restricted. Even though women in those countries have achieved some of their rights, they are still suffering from sex discrimination. In Saudi Arabia, the situation of women is "unique" and extremely distinct . "Except for Saudi Arabia, Middle Eastern countries have introduced reforms to improve women's status and remove many, if not all, of the disabilities formerly imposed under the Shari'a [Islamic law]" (Mayer 95). Saudi women are subjected to sex segregation and discrimination due to antiquated religious laws and outdated social roles.

Islam was established more than 1400 years ago. The regulations of Islam are derived from two major sources, the Qur'an (the holy Islamic book) and the Sunnah (sayings of the Prophet Mohammed). Those two sources were interpretated by four schools; Shafi, Maliki, Hanbali, and Hanifi. In Saudi Arabia, all laws are based on the Hanbali interpretation of the Qur'an and the Sunnah which is considered the constitution of the country. Since nobody is allowed to change any regulations or roles that are in the Qur'an and the Sunnah because they are from God, all Saudi laws must not contradict the constitution, including laws that regulate women's affairs. " The problem here is that most people in Saudi Arabia think that since those Islamic laws were created by God, they are untouchable even if those laws create illogical situations for them" (Sulman, personal interview).Additionally, Ahmad, in a personal interview, said that there are some Saudi citizen, both males and females who believe that those laws do not fit in this era, since they were created to deal with the issues 1400 years ago. For instance, in legal disputes testimonies are the strongest proof that courts rely on according to the Qurán. Nevertheless, nowadays there are modern evidence such as fingerprint and DNA test which can be more reliable than testimonies. These people have made several attempts to modernize the laws, yet, those attempts were faced by the radical religious people (Ulama).

The nature geography of Saudi Arabia is 80 percent desert, and this has negatively affected people's lives. For instance, this solid nature has confirmed the importance of males as hard workers as well as fighters against the enemies of the community. At the same time, this has reduced the importance of females and limited their duties in raising children and taking care of their male relatives. Furthermore, this solid nature has influenced on the people's way of thinking. It has made people very strict in their behavior and beliefs which interprets why Wahhabism (a branch of Hanbli school of Islam which was established 100 years ago by radical Saudi people) is the strictest doctrine in Islam. This explains the situation of women in Saudi Arabia. In this paper I will show how religious laws and social roles affect the situation of Saudi women.

In Islamic law (Shari'a), daughters receive half the inheritance that their brothers receive. The Qur'an mentions that women are not responsible for any financial obligations. "It only seems fair and logical that a man should receive double the share of inheritance received by his sister, since a man has unlimited financial responsibilities toward his mother, unmarried female siblings, his wife and children, whereas a woman usually has only personal expenses"("Islam and Women's Right" 2). This particular role was created in a society whereas males are responsible for supporting their families. Nevertheless, the social system in Saudi Arabia has changed. In practical life, women now go to work every day and have responsibilities to support their families, children and sometimes husbands who might be out of work or disable. "We are six sisters who work as teachers. We are responsible for our children's needs. Our husbands don't care about buying children's stuff or even furniture since they know we have our own money" (Sarah)

Another aspect of discrimination against women can be seen in the Saudi law practices such as Qur'an's treatment testimonies. Women's testimonies in criminal cases are not acceptable at all. Sulman pointed out that the punishment of criminal cases ia relatively "tough", so to avoid having mistakes, women's testimonies are not allowed since their memories are not as stronger as men. In Saudi civil cases, a women's testimony carries far less weight than a man's. Two women's testimonies are equal to one man's. A woman's evidence is not considered as good as that of a man, and another woman must support her if she provides testimony. "The implied reasoning behind this is that women may be more influenced by their feelings and thus sympathize with one side or another depending on the conflict situation"("Islam and Women's Right" 2). However, it is not logical to say that all women can be affected by their emotions. From other countries experiences, women have worked in all fields and their performance was similar to men or even better. For example, in the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher who is called "the Iron Lady" was one of the longest serving prime ministers that the country has ever had. Furthermore, according to the Qur'an, women have differ from men in the way they remember things. Sasson said that "Women are forgetful, and their testimony cannot be considered reliable" (305). Indeed, women should not be deemed the weaker sex with regard to mental prowess. Man also can be forgetful. Besides, several studies show that women have more ability to memorize things in more details than men do. Yet, women in Saudi courts are treated unequally that affects their self-confidence.

In Shari'a law, women can be put to death by their male relatives. Namely, if a man find his wife, his sister or female cousin in extramarital affair, he has the right to kill her without being punished. Bourguignon showed an article that appeared in New Nork Times where a father killed his 15-year-old daughter in Lebanon because she had a sexual relationship with a boy and the father was sentenced to just nine months. Bourguignon pointed out that "The man involved was a Saudi. Had he done the same thing at home, there would have been no penalty" (25). In contrast, the Shari'a law does not mention anything if a woman finds her male relative or even husband in extramarital affair which does not make any sense for penalizing females only.

Marriage is another example of sex discrimination in Islamic law. The shari'a regulations of marriage widely grant males the power against females. It has strange marriage roles which have been criticized by Western human rights activists and organizations. In Saudi Arabia a man can have up to four wives, yet, women can have only one husband. It is worth mentioning that, Saudi males can marry other religious believers' females such as Christians or Jews, while Saudi females can only marry Muslims. The reason for this according to Shari'a law is that wives usually follow their husbands' religion and also it is a way to spread Islam among people, on the other hand, if a Muslim female gets married to a non-Muslim male, she might follow her husband's religion. In addition, females do not have the ability to proceed the contract of marriage by themselves. There must be a guardian male to sign up the contract. Even though in some Islamic countries such as Egypt women can marry without having guardians to proceed the contract. It is interesting to note that Saudi women cannot choose their husbands by themselves since they are separated from public life due to the social roles. Al-Khateeb reported that "The bride is usually informed of a suitable groom as seem from her guardian's point of view...Thus many Saudi women go along with their guardians' decision because men have more access to public life, opportunities to collect information about a potential groom..." (177). Furthermore, the right of divorce is only granted for males. They can simply break up the marriage by saying the divorce word which is 'I divorce you' three times. Still, females can not divorce the husbands easily. "Women must demonstrate legally specified grounds for divorce, but men may divorce without giving cause" ("Saudi Arabia Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1998" 13).

Due to Islamic laws, Saudi women are restricted from traveling. They are required not only to obtain a written permission from their male guardian but also to have a male escort with them ("Report Around the World" 1). The Prophet Muhammed said that no woman should travel without her husband or a escort, for example, her father, son, or uncle because women are "weak" and can face unsafe travel. However, now travel is no longer risky, and that injunction does not apply. Furthermore, to protect a woman from mistreatment outside her "safe" country and from misbehavior, she has to have escort who can be her son. "...We see a 15-year-old boy being considered the tutor of his 40 year-old mother. According to Islam, it is she who is the guardian of the child and not the other way round. Does it seem right that a woman who may be very well-educated and hold a responsible job should find herself under the control of a male[child] who should by rights be under her control?" (El-Khereji 1). From the above cases, it is clear that Islamic restriction of female traveling does not work in this time since travel has become more safer and women become more independent. We can see that women in Tunisia travel without any restriction although Tunisia is Islamic country.

Because of the social roles Saudi women's right to education is restricted to certain majors such as education and health care. They are prevented from studying many majors such as petroleum and minerals, law, the military and engineering,...etc. In its report on human rights the United States Department of State noted that "They [female students] constitute over 58 percent of all university students but are excluded from studying such subjects as engineering, journalism, and architecture." Even Shari'a law required women to obtain an education just as men, Wahhabi roles do not allow women to study as many subjects that men can. "Muslim conservatives argue that Islam calls for sexual segregation in education and that women should only be allowed to study subjects suitable for females-which tend to be ones that prepare women for a life oriented toward the home and family" (Mayer 96). Nonetheless, in other Islamic countries, this strict interpretation does not exist. Women in such countries as in Kuwait, Egypt and Lebanon can study almost all majors. It is important to mention that woman's right to education is depended on her guardian who can prevented her from studying. Ibrahim reported that one of her male respondents said, "I will not allow my daughters to go to a college while they are still unmarried. When they marry, it is up to their husband whether they get a college education or not" (2).

In conducting surveys or gathering information, Saudi women experience several social, religious and practical obstacles. To illustrate, female students can not meet their male professors in person. "In universities, if the professor is male, his lecture reaches the female students via TV" (Mathison 2). By this impractical way of teaching, female students face difficulties of getting information and concentrating with a TV lecture. Furthermore, since women are not allowed to enter most of male places such as campus or governmental offices, a female researcher is not allowed to meet males in person to gather the data that she needs to conduct a survey even if her research is very relevant to males.

The fields of work that Saudi women can work in are very limited. They are allowed to work only in jobs which can be performed by and for women such as education and health care. All other areas which are engineering, media, police, industry, and sport, ...etc. are prohibited. Al-Khateeb indicated that "All private companies, factories and supermarkets are staffed by men" (171). Those fields are basically permitted for women to work in according to other schools of Islam. Yet, the strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam says if women are allowed to work in those fields, it would lead them to work in the same place that men work in, and mixing women and men in one place is prohibited in Islam. In addition, some Wahhabi people claim that women should not work outside their homes because "Women are designed for 'cooking, laundering, shopping, and washing up,' as well as for taking care of children." (Mayer 120) supporting their opinion from unclear Qur'anic passage when God asked women to stay at home avoiding any harm. Furthermore, since Khadija, first wife of Prophet Muhammad, was a businesswoman, Saudi woman can have their own business but only in limited areas with restrictions. As Al-Khateeb indicated "Business woman cannot maintain their own business by themselves. They need to have a wakeil, an authorized man to carry out the work for them" (186). In addition, as I indicated, families or husbands have the right to approved their female relatives' choice of work or business.

The strength of religion and tradition roles forces women to wear veil, outside their homes, which covers the whole body, head and face. It restricts women from moving, acting, breathing or even sight. This traditional cloth has its roots for two reasons. First, Wahhabi people claim that God requires women to wear veil as this Qur'anic message mentioned "... Tell their wives and daughters and the women of believers to draw their cloaks close around them. That will be better, that so they may not be recognized and not annoyed..." (Bourguignon 39). From this quote we can see that this passage was sent to the Prophet Muhammad to inform his wives and other Muslim women. At that time, Muslim women were liable to be harmed by non-Muslims. However, nowadays such abuse and harmful behavior by non-Muslims is not common. Additionally, Richard Khuri supported the misunderstanding of Qur'anic messages by saying that "They [Muslims] can, if they so wish, enforce a literal interpretation and understand veiling in a more stringent sense than that implied by the Qur'an" (273). Women in all Islamic countries such as Morocco, Syria, and Lebanon are not forced to wear a veil which in those countries covers only the hear unlike what is in Saudi Arabia. The other reason is, since sex is such a sin and the prime preoccupation of the culture, Saudis fear that any man and woman of suitable ages will be irresistibly driven to having sexual relation even if they have ever seen each other before!. Therefore, as Al-Kateeb pointed out "The veil has become a symbol of cultural integrity and identity" (171).

Another example of sex segregation regarding the social roles is the prohibition of women driving. Women suffer from a lack of freedom of movement. As Al-Khateeb stated her experience with conducting her survey "since women are not allowed to drive, I faced the problem of transportation" (168). Nevertheless, women driving are not illegal in the term of religious law (Shari'a). The operation of a motor vehicle is not included in the Shari'a law. However, the government contends that women's driving in Saudi society is undesirable for social roles as it contradicts with the Saudi traditions. "...Women should never be allowed to drive because driving exposes their dignity to harm and is therefore un-Islamic" (Afkhami 140). Yet, in Kuwait where its traditions are similar to Saudi tradition women drive and such a harmful don't occur. Furthermore, as stated earlier, most Saudi men dread giving their women the freedom of movement, because it might lead toimpermissible sexual relationship. According to my interview, Ahmad said "It's a way of controlling female movement, men continue to shepherd their women through life to ensure that their own honor does not fall before 'sex-crazed creatures'."

Evidently, relying on my study of Saudi women position, the Shari'a , which is the practical Islamic law in Saudi Arabia, and the strict traditional roles are no longer compatible with the extension of modern life. Saudi women under Islamic roles, face many gender inequalities. Women are denied a wide variety of rights enjoyed by men, such as driving cars, having more than one spouse or being given equal testimonial consideration in the court. Moreover, women must keep themselves veiled, and some times are not allowed to be educated. " Muslim feminists have long argued that it is not the religion but the male interpretation of the [Qur'an] that keeps women oppressed, along with the texts that were added on in the Middle Ages. So the way to reform seemed to be to re-examine and reinterpret the religious texts" (Religion Holds Back Rights of Muslim Women 2). Hence, Saudi Arabia should adopt a new understanding and interpretation of Islam which would fit in this era. Clearly, it is the time to change these old Islamic roles. Some Islamic countries such as Turkey, Tunisia, and Morocco have reinterpret the religious laws and have adopted new understanding that would work with the new relationships that have occur because of the modern societies. Furthermore, since women are controlled by the social system around them, women would not have their freedom and would not get out from the restriction of social roles unless government and people start to change these roles. Since there is no logical basis to continue using these old traditions. In particular, society will not be modernized while its women are buried by the religious laws and the social roles.

Anonymous Saudi woman.

ALSO SEE: FEMINISM AND FUNDAMENTALISM