Saudi women appeal for legal freedoms

[southern_belle]

Source: The Independent - UK

In Riyadh, the college day begins for female students behind a locked door that will remain that way until male guardians come to collect them. Later, in a female-run business, everyone must vacate the premises so a delivery man can drop off a package. In Jeddah, a 40-year-old divorced woman cannot board a plane without the written permission of her 23-year-old son. Elsewhere, a female doctor cannot leave the house at all as her male driver fails to turn up for work. These scenes make up the daily reality for half of the Saudi Kingdom, the only country where women legally belong to men.

After more than a decade of lobbying, the New York-based group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has finally been granted access to Saudi Arabia, where it has uncovered a disturbing picture of women forced to live as children, denied basic rights and confined to a suffocating dependency on men.

Wajeha al-Huwaider, a critic of Saudi's guardian laws that force women to seek male permission for almost all aspects of their lives, is one of a growing number demanding change. "Sometimes I feel like I can't do anything; I am utterly reliant on other people, completely dependent. If you are dependent on another person, you've got nothing. That is how the men like it. They don't want us to be equals."

The House of Saud, in alliance with an extremist religious establishment which enforces the most restrictive interpretation of sharia, Islamic law, has created a legal system that treats women as minors unable to exercise authority over even trivial daily matters.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-women-appeal-for-legal-freedoms-812657.html

[snot]

1. K&R'd

[nomorenomore08]

2. Just goes to demonstrate that religion and government DO NOT MIX.

I'm an Obama supporter, but the Jesus-freak act he's been forced to pull at times disgusts me. Ancient myths have no place in modern political discourse.

[UndertheOcean]

3. Islam and government do not mix,

[The Stranger]

4. No, ANY RELIGION and government DO NOT MIX.

[UndertheOcean]

6. I Agree , but Islam more so than other religions.

[superconnected]

10. True, buddhism typically doesn't lead to supression.

[maxsolomon]

14. the tamil tigers in sri lanka would argue otherwise

the sinhalese majority are buddhist.

i'm NOT saying they're right.

[The Stranger]

11. Actually, all religions should equally be separated from government.

Once you have agreed that religion is incompatible with government, ranking them with regard to their incompatibility seems to be an exercise in absurdity.

But if you must, the problem with infusing religion with government, as the U.S. has come to realize time and time again, is that everyone wants their own religion installed as that of the government.

Sure, religious followers love having their own practices exhibited publicly and their own prayers said over the loudspeaker, but having the prayers of others that believe differently? They usually react violently to that.

[uppityperson]

9. Fundamentalism and gvt do not mix.

Saudi's are Fundamentalist Islam.

[krkaufman]

12. "Islam"? That's a pretty superficial and ignorant statement

"Islam" is not the problem so much as particular interpretations of the religion, just as certain interpretations of Christianity would have women subjugated in this country if our Constitution didn't preclude it. The problem is just as much the form of government in place and the willingness of the government to collude with the majority religion to keep the population in-check.

And who's to say where the Middle East would be today if the US hadn't interfered in the politics of the region over the last 100 years, not the least of which was the overthrow of Mossadegh in Iran in 1953.

[superconnected]

5. This is so fucking unbelievable.

And yeah, I know it's true.

I won't be surprised if the women seeking rights are tortured or killed.

[superconnected]

7. also from the article

"The most egregious consequences of this repressive regime occasionally filter out from the Gulf Kingdom: the notorious case in Qatif of the girl who was jailed after being gang raped on a charge of consorting with a male non-relative; the schoolgirls believed to have burnt to death in Mecca as religious police would not let them leave the fiery premises without headscarves; or the happily married Fatima Azzaz from Mansour, forced to divorce her husband at the whim of her half-brothers."

"Two women who spoke to HRW said, in a report released today, that judges had refused them the right to speak in court as their voices were "shameful" – only their guardians were allowed to speak on their behalf. Saudi courts require a mu'arif (a male to identify her under the full face veil) before a woman can even attempt to testify."

"Women were denied the right to vote in the kingdom's first municipal elections because there were no separate voting booths for them."


When they are this supressed how can they win their rights? It reminds me of when women poured gas on themselves and set themselves on fire in India years ago during womens rights demonstrations. I was horrified at the time but now I understand. Those women knew they couldn't gain their rights so chose the only way they could get out, and made their deaths social statements. I suspect the men are not going to come around and just grant these women rights. Many will end up dying before they get them. I'm not going to blame islam for this repression, the problem is man. Islam is just the popular vehicle there to excuse the supression of women. Take away islam and they would find another reason - saftey etc. Their dominate male pack mentality is the problem.

[knixphan]

8. 'Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden'

- is a must-see -

The Saudi portion is eye-opening, as is the Israeli. For different reasons.

[Uncle Joe]

13. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, southern_belle.