"... A man controls a Saudi woman’s life from her birth until her death. Every Saudi woman must have a male guardian normally a father or husband ..."HRW
(Beirut) – Rahaf al-Qunun, the Saudi woman who managed to
successfully flee her allegedly abusive family, has shed new light on
the countless women trapped under the abusive male guardianship system
in Saudi Arabia,
Human Rights Watch said today. Women face systematic discrimination and
are left exposed to domestic violence under the male guardianship
system and have few places to turn when they face abuse, leading some
women to undertake dangerous escape attempts to flee the country.
Under the male guardianship system, a man controls a Saudi woman’s life from her birth until her death. Every Saudi woman must have a male guardian, normally a father or husband, but in some cases a brother or even a son, who has the power to make a range of critical decisions on her behalf. The Saudi state essentially treats women as permanent legal minors. Saudi Arabia has done very little to end the system, which remains the most significant impediment to women’s rights in the country.
“Rahaf al-Qunun’s courageous quest for freedom has exposed anew an
array of discriminatory practices and policies that disempower Saudi
women and leave them vulnerable to abuse,” said Michael Page,
deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Saudi Crown Prince
Muhammad bin Salman wants to be viewed as a women’s rights reformer, but
Rahaf al-Qunun showed just how laughably at odds this is from reality
when the authorities try to hunt down fleeing women and tortures women’s
rights activists in prison.”
While other countries in the Middle East have elements of the male
guardianship system, Saudi Arabia’s is the by far the most draconian in
the extent of its laws and regulations, as well as the authorities’
efforts to apply them. Human Rights Watch has documented the impact of
such laws and policies on the lives of women in its 2016 report, “Boxed In: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System.” Below are 10 reasons why Saudi women flee their country.
10 Reasons Why Saudi Women Flee
- No Freedom to Travel or Get a Passport
No country restricts the movement of its female population
more than Saudi Arabia. Women cannot apply for a passport or travel
outside the country without their male guardian’s approval, restrictions
the Interior Ministry imposes and enforces. In practice, some women are
prevented from leaving their homes without their guardian’s permission
and guardians can seek a court order for a woman to return to the family
home. Saudi Arabia did not allow women to drive
cars until June 2018. The travel restrictions make it very difficult
for Saudi women to flee the country. Many resort to hacking into their
male guardian’s phone to change their travel permission settings or run
away from family members while outside the country.
- No Freedom to Choose Marriage Partner, and Child Marriages
Saudi authorities limit a woman’s ability to enter freely into marriage by requiring her to obtain the permission of a male guardian.
A woman’s consent is generally given orally before a religious official
officiating for the marriage, and both the woman and her male guardian
are required to sign the marriage contract. Whereas men can marry up to
four wives at a time.
Saudi law has no minimum marriage age, and Saudi media outlets continue to carry occasional reports
of child marriages, including rare reports of girls as young as 8. On
January 9, 2019, Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council, an advisory body,
overwhelmingly passed a proposal setting the minimum age of marriage at 18,
but leaving exceptions for girls ages 15 to 18 to marry with court
approval. The proposal will become law only if promulgated by Saudi
Arabia’s council of ministers.
- Domestic Violence
As in other countries, many women in Saudi Arabia are subject to
domestic violence. Over a one-year period ending October 13, 2015, the
Ministry of Labor and Social Development reported that it encountered 8,016 cases of physical and psychological abuse, most involving violence between spouses. Saudi Arabia criminalized domestic violence in 2013, but activists have criticized the lack of implementation of the law.
Saudi Arabia’s National Family Protection Program estimates that 35 percent of Saudi women have experienced violence,
yet the head of Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights Commission said that of the
1,059 cases referred to Saudi courts in 2017 involving violence against
women, only 59 were for domestic violence. Guardianship makes it incredibly difficult for victims to seek protection or obtain legal redress. Human Rights Watch research has found
that women occasionally struggle to report an incident to the police or
access social services or the courts without a male relative.
Moreover, the male guardianship system facilitates domestic violence
by granting male relatives a huge amount of control over women’s lives.
Controlling a woman’s movements itself is a form of domestic violence
that the government enforces.
Women who attempt to flee an abusive spouse or family can be arrested
and returned to their families. If they flee or are referred to
shelters, they are not allowed to leave unless they reconcile with
family members or accept an arranged marriage. The shelters and the
authorities do not facilitate women’s ability to live independently.
- Employment Discrimination
Saudi Arabia has increased employment opportunities for women in
recent years in areas previously closed to them. The Saudi government
does not enforce formal guardianship restrictions on women wishing to
work, but the authorities do not penalize private or public employers
who require a guardian’s consent for women to work or restrict jobs to
men. In addition, some professions, like judges and drivers, remain off
limits to women, and strict sex segregation policies act as a
disincentive to employers considering hiring women.
- Healthcare Discrimination
A 2014 medical code of ethics prepared by a state institution
declares that a woman’s consent should be sufficient to receive health
care. In reality, however, the requirement for guardian permission is
dependent on a particular hospital’s internal regulations, and the
government does not penalize institutions that require consent. Human
Rights Watch spoke with medical professionals
at private hospitals that do not require guardian permission and others
at public hospitals that require guardian permission for a woman to be
operated on or admitted. Human Rights Watch has documented
how requiring guardian approval for medical procedures has exposed
women to prolonged pain or, in extreme cases, to life-threatening
danger.
- Inequality in Divorce, Child Custody, Inheritance
Like many other Muslim-majority countries, Saudi Arabia bases
its personal law system on Islamic law. But unlike most other countries,
Saudi Arabia has no written family law.
Women’s right to divorce is more restricted than for men. Men may
unilaterally divorce their wives without condition. The man does not
need to inform his wife that he intends to divorce her, nor must she be
in court for her husband to obtain a divorce decree.
The authorities introduced a notification system in January that
allows for women to be notified by text when a man registers his divorce
in the courts. But woman’s rights activists report that men often
unilaterally divorce women orally without documentation, leaving the
woman to prove to the courts that their husbands have divorced them.
Women have no right to unilateral divorce and are subject to lengthier and more costly processes. Women either must seek a khul’ divorce,
under which a man generally agrees to the divorce on the condition that
a woman will pay back the full amount of her dowry, or a woman can
apply to the courts for a fault-based divorce on limited grounds, and
must prove the fault, such as mistreatment by the husband. As there is
no personal status or family law, the judge determines whether there was
mistreatment. Throughout divorce proceedings, a woman’s husband remains
her guardian, with the authority to control her decisions.
While the courts may allow children to live with their mothers
following a divorce, women have no right to be their children’s legal
guardian. An activist who follows the issue said that girls usually are
transferred to the father’s custody at age 7 and that boys may decide at
age 9 which parent they want to live with.
In 2014, the authorities issued a positive ruling that when children
are ordered to live with their mothers after divorce, she can obtain
documents and conduct government business for them. The decision enabled
women to register their children in schools, take them to health
centers, and obtain identity documents for them. Fathers, however,
maintain the right to grant travel permission for children or to
authorize daughters’ marriages.
In matters of inheritance, as in most Muslim-majority countries,
women are only entitled to inherit half of what male heirs inherit.
- Challenges to Transferring Guardianship
In certain cases women may transfer legal guardianship from one male relative to another, but it is an extremely difficult legal process.
Human Rights Watch research indicates that it is very difficult to
transfer guardianship except for cases in which a woman can prove severe
abuse or that the guardian is incapable of caring for her, for example
due to old age. Even then, it can only be done through a court order and
can be difficult to establish the requisite level of proof.
- Restrictions on Leaving Prison and Shelters
Saudi prisons and juvenile detention centers only allow women to exit into the care of a male relative. Imprisoned
women whose families refuse to release them are forced to remain in
prison or in shelters until they reconcile with their families or obtain
a new guardian, occasionally only after arranged marriages.
- Restrictions on Studying Abroad
Unlike Saudi men, women cannot study abroad on a government scholarship without guardian approval and, while it is not always enforced, the rules officially require a male relative to accompany them throughout their studies abroad.
- Political Repression
Under Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, Saudi authorities have
intensified a coordinated crackdown on dissidents, human rights
activists, and independent clerics. In 2018, this repression extended to
the country’s leading women’s rights advocates who have advocated
ending the male guardianship system. On May 15, just weeks before the
Saudi authorities lifted the ban on women driving on June 24,
authorities began arrests of prominent women’s rights activists and accused several of them of grave crimes like treason that appear to be directly related to their activism.
By November, at least 10 women remain detained without charge, though
some anticipated charges could carry prison terms of up to 20 years.
Human rights organizations began reporting in November that Saudi interrogators tortured at least four of the women, including by administering electric shocks, whipping the women on their thighs, and sexually harassing and assaulting them.
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