Familienpolitik

In Saudi Arabia women cannot work, travel, study, marry or seek medical treatment without the permission of their male guardian. These men are usually the woman’s husband or father, but can also be her son. In cases of domestic abuse, a woman is unable to report the crime because her guardian, who may also be her abuser, must be present in court to verify her identity.

A new report by the Human Rights Watch decries Saudi Arabia’s institutionalized discrimination and accuses the government of not meeting the standards set out in the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, which the country ratified in 2001.

Saudi Arabia’s imposition of male legal guardianship on adult women violates article 15 of CEDAW, which requires states to “accord to women, in civil matters, a legal capacity identical to that of men and the same opportunities to exercise that capacity.” States parties are further required to ensure that “all contracts and all other private instruments of any kind with a legal effect which is directed at restricting the legal capacity of women shall be deemed null and void.”

Women in Saudi Arabia are in effect kept as minors with none of the rights of an adult granted to their male counterparts. However, they can be held criminally responsible upon reaching puberty.

This Economist article explains that there is little written law codifying the guardianship concept.

In the religiously conservative kingdom, where Muslim sharia law is held to override all other rules, the practice stems instead from extremist Wahhabi interpretations of Muslim scripture, particularly from a Koranic passage that describes men as the “protectors and keepers of women”.

Unfortunately, women have little legal protection in the case that their keepers don’t have their best interests in mind.

Tags: family policy, Islam, Religion, Saudi Arabia, Sharia