Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-41412877
What can women still not do in Saudi Arabia?
27 September 2017
The king of Saudi Arabia has issued a decree allowing women to drive, bringing to an end the country's dubious distinction as the only place on earth banning the practice. But even when that change comes in next June, many things will still be out of reach for women in the extremely conservative country.
There are many things women must ask the men in their lives for permission to do. These things include, but are not limited to:
Applying for passports
Travelling abroad
Getting married
Opening a bank account
Starting certain businesses
Getting elective surgery
Leaving prison
These restrictions are down to Saudi Arabia's guardianship system. Since its foundation, the country has been aligned with a strict interpretation of Islamic law - Wahhabism. After an extremist uprising in 1979, those rules were enforced more rigidly.
It has helped create one of the most unequal countries in the Middle East, according to the 2016 World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index, ranking above only Yemen and Syria, both countries at war.
'A man equals two women'
The guardianship system has been criticised strongly, including by the organisation Human Rights Watch, which said it effectively turns women in to "legal minors who cannot make key decisions for themselves".
However, that has not stopped some women in the country campaigning against it - although that is not easy in a country where women will also find it difficult to walk in public without a man accompanying them.
In the justice system, women are openly discriminated against. As is the case in some other countries with a strict interpretation of Islamic law, one man's court testimony is equal to that of two women...
What can women still not do in Saudi Arabia?
27 September 2017
The king of Saudi Arabia has issued a decree allowing women to drive, bringing to an end the country's dubious distinction as the only place on earth banning the practice. But even when that change comes in next June, many things will still be out of reach for women in the extremely conservative country.
There are many things women must ask the men in their lives for permission to do. These things include, but are not limited to:
Applying for passports
Travelling abroad
Getting married
Opening a bank account
Starting certain businesses
Getting elective surgery
Leaving prison
These restrictions are down to Saudi Arabia's guardianship system. Since its foundation, the country has been aligned with a strict interpretation of Islamic law - Wahhabism. After an extremist uprising in 1979, those rules were enforced more rigidly.
It has helped create one of the most unequal countries in the Middle East, according to the 2016 World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index, ranking above only Yemen and Syria, both countries at war.
'A man equals two women'
The guardianship system has been criticised strongly, including by the organisation Human Rights Watch, which said it effectively turns women in to "legal minors who cannot make key decisions for themselves".
However, that has not stopped some women in the country campaigning against it - although that is not easy in a country where women will also find it difficult to walk in public without a man accompanying them.
In the justice system, women are openly discriminated against. As is the case in some other countries with a strict interpretation of Islamic law, one man's court testimony is equal to that of two women...