MaKenzie Ellis

Professor Laura Biagi

ENC 2131

10 February, 2021

Women's Rights in Saudi: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.

I am currently a sophomore, majoring in Middle Eastern Studies. I first became fascinated

with the culture and rich history as a young girl, but it always seemed like a dream to study a

culture so different from my own. However, with the reign of the new progressive Prince

Mohammad Bin Salman, Saudi Arabia has become a new country. It is so important to

appreciate these groundbreaking laws that have come into effect while also acknowledging the

history of the country. In a heavily misogynistic culture, Saudi Arabia continues to make

adjustments on women's rights in education, marriage and the workplace due to pressure from

the western world and the rise of a new prince.

Before one can really understand the truly remarkable changes that have happened, you must

understand the deep rooted sexist laws that have laid the foundation of viewing women as

inferior to men. One of the most important laws is Sharia, or Islamic, law. Sharia law has no

universal definition in the Muslim world. The understanding and interpretation of this law is

constantly changing and evolving. In “Understanding Sharia Law,” Wajahat Ali states “the CSP

report defines Sharia as a legal-political-military doctrine” (Ali, p.2). This is due to Sharia law

not only being a way to live life for many Muslims, but also being deep rooted into many Arab

countries' foundations. For example, Saudi Arabia’s constitution is Sharia law. However, with

many new leaders coming to power, new interpretation of Sharia law changes these outdated

regulations.
 In addition to Sharia law, another extremely important law that represses women's rights is

Wilaya. In the book The Son King: Reform and Repression in Saudi Arabia, Madawi Al-

Rasheed states “Wilaya as a judicial concept means the ability to have control over body and

money” (Al-Rasheed, p.257). Similarly, in the United States there are guardianship laws that

apply to minors or anyone under 18. In Saudi Arabia, Wilaya is essentially the control, approval,

and guardianship of a woman. Typically, minor’s or unmarried women’s guardians are their

parents or brothers, while the husband is a married woman's guardian. This gives men the right

to keep the women of their family uneducated and control what they do.

Following Wilaya law, one of the first advancements in women's rights Prince Mohannad Bin

Salman established was in marriage. In an article written by Ismaell Naar, Mohammad Bin

Salman stated “For the Personal Status Law, perhaps the most prominent general features are the

setting of a minimum age for marriage for both parties, as well consolidating the consideration of

a woman's will in all aspects of the marriage contract in addition to childcare rights and interests

of the child” (Naar, 2021). A major issue in Saudi is women have no say in marriages or divorce.

These new laws will allow women to have a voice in marriage. If there is an objection to a

marriage, a judge is legally forced to take the womens say into deliberation. In the Personal

Status Law, men will now have to notify their wife if they are seeking divorce. This was a huge

step towards women's rights as now women will not be kicked out on the streets with no

warning.

However there are still complications that leave married or divorced women in situations that

are every western womens nightmare. It seems every time you read the news, there is an article

highlighting the accumulating number of women who are attempting to leave Saudi Arabia or

have managed to escape their husbands. Unfortunately, the divorce rules in Saudi Arabia still
favor men over women. This is seen in the story of Bethany Vierra. The New York Times zeroed

in on her issue, highlighting the complete lack of rights women have in Saudi, especially as an

American woman. Essentially, under the guardianship law, men control their wifes during and

after their marriage. Bethany Vierra is trapped as an illegal alien in Saudi Arabia with her

daughter after divorcing her abusive husband and can face punishments due to not having

residency in Saudi. In the article “American Woman, Divorced From Saudi Husband, Is Trapped

in Saudi Arabia,” Ben Hubbard states under the guardianship system “Saudi women are given a

legal status similar to that of minors. All must have a male “guardian” whose permission they

need to obtain passports, pursue certain medical procedures or travel” (Hubbard, 2019). Due to

this, american women like Bethany Vierra have no legal rights to leave Saudi Arabia after

divorce or apply for citizenship unless she has the consent of her ex-husband. As you might

think, this is incredibly hard for women who were physically or mentally abused by their now

ex-husbands.

Another way men control women is by telling them what they should wear as a married or

single woman. However, this changed after Prince Mohammad Bin Salman announced shocking

news during an interview. In the video “60 Minutes,” by CBS News Prince Mohammad Bin

Salman discusses women's rights and one of the monumental radical changes he has made to

women's freedom. “The laws are very clear and stipulated in the laws of sharia (Islamic law):

that women wear decent, respectful clothing, equal to men,” Prince Mohammed said in the

interview with CBS (O’Donnald, 2018). In Saudi culture, men were never forced to wear head

coverings like women. This was significant as the leader of Saudi Arabia discusses that men and

women are equals and women will not be punished or forced to wear hijabs or any other type of

head covering as men are not subjected to this. Saudi Prince Mohammad bin Salman has been
known as the new progressive prince who expanded women's rights, including allowing women

to attend mixed gender sporting events, drive cars, and strip religious police powers that arrested

women for not wearing a hijab. This has intist women to wear more colorful abayas, jeans, and

long skirts.

After creating the idea that women and men are equals, then Prince Mohammad bin Salman

and his father pushed for women in the workplace as their next step in women's equality. Vision

2030 plan is a landmark plan that ensured to raise women participation in economics while also

restructuring the social life in Saudi. In the article, “Is the Saudi Gender Gap Narrowing?,”

Ahmed H Alrefai reveals that the Vision 2030 plan pledges to “raise Saudi women’s economic

participation from 17% to 25%” (Alrefai, p.2). This will be accomplished by expanding women

empowerment in political, academic, and professional environments. This includes allowing

women to vote and be elected into public offices, while ensuring child-care facilities are built for

working mothers.

Furthermore, Saudi women are educated and can now drive making them more like Western

countries. This article, “Women, Start Your Engines: US and UK Media Portrayal of the

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Women Driving Ban,” discusses a historic moment in Saudi women’s

history; driving. In June 2018, the royal decree lifted the ban that kept women from driving after

years of pressure from the West. This not only affected Saudi women, but westerns views of the

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Saud A. Alsulaiman explains that “prior to allowing Saudi women to

drive, US and UK media harshly criticized the KSA with unflattering phrases, descriptions, and

misinformation” (Alsulaiman, p.9). This was due to media outlets only portraying supportive

arguments of women driving, while not taking into account huge cultural differences between
western and middle east ideologies. Thus spreading misinformation and exaggerations in articles

that misportrayed women and movements in Saudi Arabia.

In addition, the biggest problem for women not going into the workforce is domestic abuse

from disapproving spouses. This article, “Family Violence Pattern” focuses on a study conducted

on young Saudi women. The study found that out of 824 female students “nearly 54% and 28.2%

of them talked about the incident with family members and physicians, respectively...Parental

psychological abuse was the most common way of exposure (55%)” (Ibrahim, 2021). Impacts of

these incidences consequently caused stress in school. This is extremely important now that

women can go to higher education without the approval of a guardian, ongoing abuse can disrupt

the future of many. Violence on women is a big problem, however how women deal with this

issue is nearly nonexistence. Gathering evidence to urge the universities of these students to use

counselling to reach out and give support to abused Saudi students is extremely important in the

future success of women in the workforce. Now that women can go to higher education without

the approval of a guardian, ongoing abuse can disrupt the future of many. In the Iowa Law

Review, Tom Throneburg Butler states that “domestic abuse had gone wholly unaddressed in

Saudi law, and on the rare occasion that a case of abuse was reported and brought to court”

Therefore, with no law making it a criminal act to abuse your wife, many Saudi judges had to use

their interpretations and views of Sharia law. However, in 2013, domestic violence was

criminalized and judges were forced to take the side of women.

Lastly, since 2017, women are now allowed to go to college and receive healthcare without

the permission of a male guardian. Because of this many studies have found that women now

make up the majority of academic enrollment. In the Vision 2030 plan, Mohammad Bin Salman

made great strides in women's education. In the article, “Is the Saudi Gender Gap Narrowing?,”
Ahmed H Alrefai reveals that the Vision 2030 plan caused “the ratio of female enrollment in

Saudi institutions of higher learning to grow rapidly, overtaking that of their male counterparts

(69.9 percent women vs. 66.3 percent men in 2020) and substantially narrowing the gender gap

in education” (Alrefai, p.2). This is incredibly important to build women's educational

backgrounds, career interests, and qualifications in order to get jobs. However, even though

Saudi women can now be educated there is some push back. In the professional world women

are able to get jobs, however the jobs are largely restricted to teaching and social work positions

that are in an all female work environment.

In conclusion, While westerners think the progress of Saudi Arabia is subpar, taking into

account the strict religious society is important to acknowledge the great advancements the royal

family has provided. Actions such as going to college, wearing your hair down, having a job, or

even arresting your husband for hitting you is now possible. The progress of women's rights in

Saudi have good, bad, and ugly aspects. However, understanding the history of the Saudi culture

is key to give credit to what has changed in women’s rights and then what still needs to change.
 Works Cited

Al-Rasheed, Madawi. “Women and Rights.” The Son King: Reform and Repression in Saudi

Arabia, Oxford University Press, 2021, pp. 233–270.

Alrefai, Ahmed H. “Is the Saudi Gender Gap Narrowing?” Middle East Forum, Middle East

Forum, Jan. 2021, www.meforum.org/61824/is-the-saudi-gender-gap-narrowing.

Alsulaiman, Saud A., and Terry L Rentner. “Women, Start Your Engines: US and UK Media

Portrayal of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Women Driving Ban.” Journal of Media and

Communication Studies, vol. 13, no. 1, Jan. 2021, pp. 1–11.,

academicjournals.org/journal/JMCS/article-full-text-pdf/9D9D0A865770.

Butler, Tom Throneburg. “The Times: Are They a-Changin'? Saudi Law Finally Addresses

Domestic Violence with Its Regulation on Protection from Abuse.” Iowa Law Review,

2015, ilr.law.uiowa.edu/print/volume-100-issue-3/the-times-are-they-a-changin-saudi-

law-finally-addresses-domestic-violence-with-its-regulation-on-protection-from-abuse/.

Einbinder, Nicole. “An American Woman Trapped in Saudi Arabia Has Few Options for

Escape Because of Divorce Laws That Give Men near-Complete Control.” Insider,
Insider, 7 Mar. 2019, www.insider.com/divorce-rules-in-saudi-arabia-favor-men-2019-3.

Hubbard, Ben. “American Woman, Divorced From Saudi Husband, Is Trapped in Saudi

Arabia.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Mar. 2019,
www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-american-
guardianship.html.

Ibrahim, Samah F., et al. “Family Violence Pattern and Its Related Factors Among
 Female University Students in the Riyadh Region of Saudi Arabia.” Mary Ann Liebert,

Inc., Publishers, 5 Jan. 2021, www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/vio.2020.0051.

Naar, Ismaeel. “Saudi Women: New Saudi Civil Laws to Include Minimum Age Limit on

Marriages: Justice Minister.” Al Arabiya English, Al Arabiya English, 9 Feb. 2021,

english.alarabiya.net/News/gulf/2021/02/09/Saudi-women-New-Saudi-civil-laws-to-

include-minimum-age-limit-on-marriages-Justice-Minister.

O'Donnell, Norah. “Saudi Arabia's Heir to the Throne Talks to 60 Minutes.” CBS News, CBS

Interactive, 2018, www.cbsnews.com/news/saudi-crown-prince-talks-to-60-minutes/.

The Irish Times. “Women in Saudi Arabia Do Not Need to Wear Head Cover, Says

Crown Prince.” The Irish Times, The Irish Times, 19 Mar. 2018,

www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/women-in-saudi-arabia-do-not-need-to-

wear-head-cover-says-crown-prince-1.3433096#:~:text=Women%20in%20Saudi

%20Arabia%20need,reform%2Dminded%20crown%20prince%20said.