Vol. 80/No. 42 November 7, 2016
Women in Saudi Arabia challenge male guardianship
Segregation along sex lines is a mainstay of how the Saudi absolute monarchy maintains its rule, imposing a draconian version of sharia law. Men and women mixing freely in public and in private outside the family is prohibited and monitored by the religious police. Many public buildings and stores have separate entrances, departments and checkout counters for men and women. Arranged marriages are still the norm. Adultery can be punished by death, and there are strict rules for how women are allowed to appear in public. Men can have up to four wives.
All women are required to have a guardian — usually their father or husband, in some cases a brother or even a son. Women cannot travel abroad or marry without the guardian’s agreement, and they can be required to provide his consent to work or receive medical care. They are banned from driving.
Saudi Arabia’s most senior cleric, Grand Mufti Adbulaziz Al Sheikh, denounced the call to repeal the guardianship system as “a crime against the religion of Islam” and said it would pose “an existential threat to Saudi society.”
Over the past decade, struggles by toilers throughout the region have sharpened the contradictions for Saudi Arabia’s reactionary rulers, including in ways that strengthen the fight against women’s oppression. After the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Bahrain, the monarchy, anxious to forestall any similar developments in Saudi Arabia, eased some restrictions, including on women’s employment.
About 20 percent of women in Saudi Arabia are employed — an eightfold increase over five years, according to Der Spiegel.
Five years ago nearly all retail clerks were men, many from the Philippines, Bangladesh and Malaysia. Migrant workers account for one-third of the population in Saudi Arabia.
The changes started in the lingerie departments. Wasn’t it a contradiction that women had to mix with men to buy underwear? In 2012 it was decreed that only females could work in lingerie stores. In the following years women got the right to sell clothes, make-up and children’s toys, and have started breaking into other jobs, including a small number working in factories.
As more women get jobs, they gain confidence and challenge more restrictions. How are women to get to work if they can’t drive in a country with no public transport? Who will look after the children? Last year the labor law was amended to require 10 weeks of paid maternity leave. Companies employing 50 or more women are by law obligated to provide staffed child care facilities, though many bosses ignore this.
As women start working and have the means to support themselves, they are less likely to put up with abusive husbands or submit to arranged marriages. According to official figures, 45 percent of women over 30 are single and 40 percent of marriages end in divorce.
With lower oil prices cutting into the Saudi rulers’ revenue, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced in April a plan dubbed “Saudi Vision 2030” to diversify the economy. One of its goals is increasing women’s participation in the workforce. This will further strengthen the ranks of the working class worldwide, and the problems that creates for the rulers.
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home