Gender Equality in Saudi Arabia

BRIEF BACKGROUND
Saudi Arabia has developed a reputation for being more restrictive of women’s mobility and public activity than
other Arab or Muslim societies due to the implementation of Islamic principles in the society. Gender roles in
Saudi society come from local culture and interpretations of Sharia (Islamic law). Sharia law, or the divine will,
is derived by scholars through interpreting the Quran and hadith (sayings of and accounts about the Prophet's
life).
In enforcing the Mahram System, Saudi religious scholars rely on the idea that men and women are biologically
different and that men are both mentally and physically superior to women. In other words, women are too
emotional and do not have the mental capacity to make life choices for themselves. In addition, women are
expected to be obedient toward their guardians.
“Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because God has given the one more [strength]
than the other, and because they support them from their means” (Quran 4:34)

INEQUALITIES EXPERIENCED BY SAUDI WOMEN

Right to travel • Sexual Subjugation
• Citizenship • Female Infanticide
• Victims of Violence • Right to Divorce
• Custody Rights • Clothing Requirements
• Access to Education • Forbidden from Driving

Saudi Arabia ranked up in Global Gender Gap Report of World Economic Forum, it placed 138 out of 144
countries for gender parity in 2017 compared from 141 out of 144 in 2016.
HISTORY OF GENDER EQUALITY IN SAUDI ARABIA
Middle eastern women have had very limited rights since the creation of the Islamic religion. In the early 1930’s
when the Arabian Peninsula divided into many separate countries, Saudi women were the only ones who did not
receive any progression of rights. This was due to a number of reasons including the location of Mecca, and
Islamic principles combining with government law.
The government has made international commitments to women's rights. It ratified the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 2000, with the proviso that the
convention could not override Islamic law. However, government officials told the United Nations that there is
no contradiction with Islam. The degree of compliance between government commitments and practice is
disputed. A 2009 report by the UN questioned whether any international law ratified by the government has ever
been applied inside Saudi Arabia.
SOME OF WOMEN’S RIGHT ADVOCATES
Lubna Olayan, the CEO of Olayan Financing Company, is a well-known advocate for women's rights. She was
the first woman to address a mixed-gender business audience in Saudi Arabia, speaking at the Jeddah Economic
Forum in 2004. She used the occasion to advocate for economic equality: My vision is of a country with a
prosperous and diversified economy in which any Saudi citizen, irrespective of gender who is serious about
finding employment, can find a job in the field for which he or she is best qualified, leading to a thriving middle
class and in which all Saudi citizens, residents or visitors to the country feel safe and can live in an atmosphere
where mutual respect and tolerance exist among all, regardless of their social class, religion or gender.
Wajeha al-Huwaider is often described as the most radical and prominent feminist activist in Saudi Arabia. In a
2008 interview, she described plans for an NGO called The Association for the Protection and Defense of
Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia. She described the goals of the organization:
Among the issues that have been raised, and that are of the utmost importance, are: representation for women in
shari'a courts; setting a [minimum] age for girls' marriages; allowing women to take care of their own affairs in
government agencies and allowing them to enter government buildings; protecting women from domestic
violence, such as physical or verbal violence, or keeping her from studies, work, or marriage, or forcing her to
divorce ... We need laws to protect women from these aggressions and violations of their rights as human beings.
And there is also [the need to] prevent girls' circumcision ... We truly have a great need for a Ministry of Women's
Affairs to deal with women's rights, issues of motherhood and infancy, and women's health in rural areas... This
is our ultimate goal ...
In 2008, the government warned The Association for the Protection and Defense of Women's Rights in Saudi
Arabia not to hold any protests.
SERIES OF LIMITED CHANGES OVER THE LAST 10 YEARS TO EASE RESTRICTIONS ON
WOMEN
The government under King Abdullah was considered reformist. It opened the country's first co-educational
university, appointed the first female cabinet member, and passed laws against domestic violence. Women did
not gain the right to vote in 2005, but the king supported a woman's right to drive and vote.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has also issued a range of decisions significantly increasing women’s access to the
labor market, as part of a broader economic reform program aimed at decreasing the country’s reliance on oil.
These include removing language in the labor law that previously restricted women’s work to certain fields
“suitable to their nature,” and no longer requiring that woman have guardian permission to work. Authorities have
provided incentives to employers to hire women and earmark certain positions for women and provided thousands
of scholarships for women to study in universities abroad.
Saudi Arabia has also taken steps to better respond to violence against women and to provide women with better
access to government services. In 2013, it passed a law criminalizing domestic abuse and, in 2016, established a
center specifically tasked with receiving and responding to reports of family violence.
Saudi Arabia has also worked to improve women’s access to government services, including enabling women to
secure their own ID cards; issuing to divorced and widowed women family cards, which specify familial
relationships and are required to conduct a number of bureaucratic tasks; and removing requirements that a woman
bring a male relative to identify them in court.
WOMEN’S RIGHT IN SAUDI ARABIA: A TIMELINE
1955: First school for girls, 1970: First university for women
Girls have not always been able to go to school like these students in Riyadh. Enrollment at the first school for
girls, Dar Al Hanan, began in 1955. The Riyadh College of Education, the first higher education institution for
women, opened in 1970.
2001: ID cards for women
At the start of the 21st century, women could get personal ID cards for the first time. The cards are the only way
for them to prove who they are, for example in disputes relating to inheritance or property issues. IDs were only
issued with the permission of a woman's guardian, though, and to the guardian instead of directly to the woman.
Only in 2006 were women able to get IDs without permission.
2005: End of forced marriages - on paper
Saudi Arabia banned forced marriage in 2005, but marriage contracts continue to be hammered out between the
husband-to-be and the father of the bride, not the bride herself.
2009: The first female government minister
In 2009, King Abdullah appointed the first female minister to Saudi Arabia's government. Noura al-Fayez became
the deputy education minister for women's affairs.
2012: First female Olympic athletes
Saudi Arabia agreed to allow female athletes to compete on the national team for the Olympics for the first time.
One of them was Sarah Attar, who ran the women's 800 meter race at the 2012 Olympics in London wearing a
headscarf. Before the Games, there was speculation that the Saudi Arabian team might be banned for gender
discrimination if they didn't allow women to participate.
2013: Women are allowed to ride bicycles and motorbikes
Saudi leaders allowed women to ride bicycles and motorbikes for the first time in 2013 — but only in recreational
areas, wearing full Islamic body covering and with a male relative present.
2013: First women in the Shura
In February 2013, King Abdullah swore in the first 30 women to the Shura, Saudi Arabia's consultative council.
This allowed women to be appointed to these positions, soon they would be allowed to actually run for office...
2015: Women can vote and get elected
In Saudi Arabia's 2015 municipal elections, women were able to vote and run for office for the first time. By
contrast, New Zealand was the first country to give women the vote, in 1893. Germany did so in 1919. At the
2015 Saudi polls, 20 women were elected to municipal roles in the absolute monarchy.
2017: First female head of the Saudi stock exchange
In February 2017, the Saudi stock exchange names the first female chairperson in its history, Sarah Al Suhaimi.
2018: Women allowed in sports stadiums
On October 29, 2017, the country's General Sports Authority announced that women would be allowed into sports
stadiums for the first time. Three previously male-only arenas will soon be open for women as well, starting in
early 2018. This was already enjoyed by the Saudi Women on January 2018.
2018: Women will be allowed to drive
On September 26, 2017, Saudi Arabia announced that women would soon be allowed to drive. Starting June 2018,
they will no longer need permission from their male guardian to get a driver's license and won't need their guardian
in the car when they drive.

SUBSTANTIAL LANDMARK RIGHTS FOR GENDER EQUALITY

Though their progression of rights has lead almost no where since the country was born, recently in the last ten
years they have passed two substantial landmarks for equality. These landmarks are the right to vote and the right
to drive. The right to vote is very important because of the few number of elections Saudi Arabia holds; they have
only had three since the country’s birth. Allowing women to have a voice in the election process is a major step
in their empowerment. Additionally, in this year women have obtained the right to drive. Allowing women to
transport themselves will in turn boost the economy and foreign relations.
PROGRESS OF GENDER EQUALITY
Princess Loulwa Al-Faisal describes herself as a conservative, advocating change that is gradual and consistent
with Islam. A member of the royal family, she argues that Islam sees women's rights as equal but different, which
"Together, add up to a secure society that works". Princess Al-Faisal argues "The ultra-conservatives and the
ultra-liberals both want the same thing, the destruction of the Islamic way. We are preserving it ... There are
problems mostly with the way the law is interpreted, mostly in the courts, but those are changing." According to
Princess Al-Faisal, Saudi women are better off than Western women in some ways: "their property is inviolable
and that men have a duty to look after them". She also says the "lack of modesty" in the West is "bad for the
children".
Some of the recently appointed female advisors to parliament (shurah) believe slow reform is effective. According
to Dr. Nora Alyousif, "The Saudi leadership is working hard on reform and supporting women ... Seventy years
ago we were completely isolated from the world. The changes which are taking place are unmistakable, and we
have finally started opening up." Dr. Maha Almuneef says, “There are small steps now. There are giant steps
coming. But most Saudis have been taught the traditional ways. You can't just change the social order all at once."
PRESENT STATE OF GENDER EQUALITY
On April 26, 2017, the UN has announced that Saudi Arabia will be a part of the Commission on the Status of
Women, the intergovernmental body dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of
women. The country so committed to women’s liberation that it ranks 141/144 for gender equality in the World
Economic Forum’s 2016 Global Gender Gap report.

Princess Reema bint Bandar made an eloquent plea for gender equality as a driving force for economic change in
the Kingdom during her address at the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Saudi Arabia was advancing the cause of women “because it’s necessary for our nation from an economic point
of view, and also from the holistic nature of how you want a family to actually function as a family if you’re
constantly segregating family members. It just doesn’t work that way,” the princess said. “We’re not doing gender
equality because the West wants it, or because it will target Human Rights Watch and get them off our backs, or
because Amnesty International is going to say ‘great, good job you.’ We’re doing it because it is right,” she said.
But you have to understand that we’re not working for anybody outside this nation, we’re working for the women
of this nation, for the men of our nation, for the evolution to where we need to be, and that’s how we will benefit
youth, that’s how we’ll be a global player. “However, you all have to understand something in this room. A
behavioral shift does not happen overnight. Sometimes economic factors drive it, like sometimes you need the
money so you let your daughter go to work. “That was our reality perhaps five years ago, but today the mind shift
necessary is: There’s value in this woman, there’s value in her contribution to the community, there’s value in
her voice and the decisions she helps make, for a more balanced economy and a more balanced society.

In April 2016, Saudi Arabia announced Vision 2030, which declares that the government will “continue to
develop [women’s] talents, invest in their productive capabilities and enable them to strengthen their future and
contribute to the development of our society and economy.” The government cannot achieve this vision if it does
not abolish the male guardianship system, which severely restricts women’s ability to participate meaningfully in
Saudi society and its economy.

CHALLENGES TO ACQUIRE GENDER EQUALITY

Women, themselves
Saudi women supportive of traditional gender roles (many of them well educated, "sometimes downright
aggressive" and including "award-winning scientists, writers and college professors") insist that loosening the
ban on women driving and working with men is part of an onslaught of Westernized ideas to weaken Islam. Many
Saudis view their country as "the closest thing to an ideal and pure Islamic nation", and therefore most in need of
resistance to Western values.
Some female Saudis consider male guardianship their "right". In Saudi culture, women have their integrity and a
special life that is separate from men.
In 2008, Rowdha Yousef and other Saudi women launched a petition "My Guardian Knows What's Best for Me",
which gathered over 5,000 signatures. The petition defended the status quo and requested punishment for activists
demanding "equality between men and women, [and] mingling between men and women in mixed environments".
Gender Segregation
Sexual segregation which keeps wives, sisters and daughters from contact with stranger men, follows from the
extreme concern for female purity and family honour. Social events are largely predicated on the separation of
men and women; Women who are seen socializing with a man who is not a relative, can be harassed by the
mutaween, even charged with committing adultery, fornication or prostitution.
The Grand Mufti, Abdul-Azeez ibn Abdullaah Aal ash-Shaikh condemned the event, saying "Allowing women
to mix with men is the root of every evil and catastrophe ... It is highly punishable. Mixing of men and women is
a reason for greater decadence and adultery."
Strict Conformity to customs based on Islamic Principle
It's the culture, not the religion," is a Saudi saying. At least according to some (Library of Congress) customs of
the Arabian peninsula also play a part in women's place in Saudi society. The peninsula is the ancestral home
of patriarchal, nomadic tribes, in which separation of women and men, and namus (honour) are considered
central.
Saudi Arabia is uniquely in need of conservative values because it is the center of Islam. Some Saudi female
advocates of government reform reject foreign criticism of Saudi limitations upon rights, for "failing to understand
the uniqueness of Saudi society."
Journalist Maha Akeel, a frequent critic of her government's restrictions on women, states that Westerner critics
do not understand Saudi. "Look, we are not asking for ... women's rights according to Western values or
lifestyles ... We want things according to what Islam says. Look at our history, our role models.
Conservative cleric Mohsen al-Awajy says the country must resist secularization: "Saudi society is a special,
tribal society, and neither King Abdullah or anyone else can impose his own interpretation of Islam. They can do
nothing without Islam. There is no Saudi Arabia without Islam."
Male Guardianship System
Under Saudi law, all females must have a male guardian (wali), typically a father, brother, husband or uncle
(mahram). Girls and women are forbidden from traveling, conducting official business, or undergoing certain
medical procedures without permission from their male guardians. The ownership of a woman is passed from one
man to another. Ownership of the woman is passed from the father or the brother to another man, the husband.
Example, the government does not require guardian permission for women to work, but does not penalize
employers who do require this permission. The government does encourage employers to hire women, but
requires employers to establish separate office spaces for men and women and to enforce a strict dress code on
women, policies which create disincentives to hiring women.