Saudi anti male-guardianship campaign

The anti male-guardianship campaign is an ongoing campaign by Saudi women against the requirement to obtain permission from their male guardian for activities such as getting a job, travelling internationally or getting married.[1] Wajeha al-Huwaider deliberately tried to travel internationally without male guardianship permission in 2009 and encouraged other women to do likewise.[2] Women activists wrote a letter to the Saudi Minister of Labor and brought media attention to the issue in 2011.[3] A 14,000-signature petition was given to royal authorities by Aziza al-Yousef in 2016 following a Human Rights Watch report on male guardianship.[1] A crackdown against the activists took place in mid-May 2018, with 13 arrests as of 22 May 2018.[4][5]

Background

Women in the pre-Roman Arabian kingdom of Nabataea[6] were independent legal persons able to sign contracts in their own name.[7] Roman law gave less rights to women than they had when Nabataea was independent. The restrictions on women in Roman law were inserted into Islamic law.[7] In the late twentieth century, after the Grand Mosque seizure in 1979, King Khalid gave more power to religious groups.[8] In 2016, Human Rights Watch described the male guardianship situation in Saudi Arabia, stating that a Saudi woman's life "is controlled by a man from birth until death".[9] As of 2018, any adult woman in Saudi Arabia is required to obtain approval from her male guardian for activities such as accessing healthcare, getting a job, travelling or getting married.[1]

Unauthorised travel protest

Wajeha al-Huwaider is a Saudi women's rights activist who in 2003 was banned by Saudi authorities from publishing her opinions in Saudi media and was arrested again after holding a women's rights street protest in August 2006.[10] In June 2009, she protested against male guardianship by trying three times to enter Bahrain without permission from her male guardian.[2] She was refused departure from Saudi Arabia at the Bahraini border all three times because of her lack of male-guardian authorisation.[2]

Al-Huwaider encouraged other Saudi women to carry out the same attempted border crossings without male guardian approval, with the aim of ending the male guardianship system.[2]

Appeal to Ministry of Labor

Late in 2011, during the 2011–12 Saudi Arabian protests, Saudi women started a campaign against the Saudi Ministry of Labor requirement for guardian approval for employment. The group contacted the media and argued that women's equality is established in the eighth article of the Saudi Arabian constitution, and that Islamic scholars generally do not see male guardian approval as a requirement for a women to be employed.[11][3]

The group held workshops on the issue and studied Islamic religious arguments[12][13] in relation to male guardianship.[1]

Petition to King and arrests

In July 2016, Human Rights Watch issued a detailed report on male guardianship in Saudi Arabia.[9] The report brought attention to the topic, and Twitter hashtags #IAmMyOwnGuardian and #StopEnslavingSaudiWomen[14] became popular. Several months later, in September 2016, 2500 women sent telegrams to King Salman, and fourteen thousand people, including Aziza al-Yousef, Loujain al-Hathloul and Eman al-Nafjan, signed a petition, calling for the male guardianship system to be fully abolished.[1][15] Al-Yousef went to the royal court to deliver the petition. Human Rights Watch described the 2016 wave of activism against male guardianship as "incredible and unprecedented".[14]

In mid-May 2018, all three of Aziza al-Yousef, Loujain al-Hathloul and Eman al-Nafjan, together with Aisha al-Mana, Madeha al-Ajroush and two male activists, were arrested by Saudi authorities. As of 22 May 2018, more anti male-guardianship campaigners had been arrested, bringing the total to 13.[4] As of 25 May 2018, four of the women had been released.[16] Hatoon al-Fassi, a women's rights activist and an associate professor of women's history, was arrested around 27 June 2018, not long after she had driven a car following the official lifting of the women's driving ban.[17]

Human Rights Watch interpreted the arrests as being aimed at frightening the activists, stating, "The message is clear that anyone expressing skepticism about the crown prince's [human] rights agenda faces time in jail."[15] The arrested campaigners were severely criticised in semi-official media as "traitors".[4] Social anthropologist Madawi al-Rasheed interpreted the May arrests as being part of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's aim to keep all the credit for allowing women to drive starting from 24 June 2018.[5] Rothna Begum of Human Rights Watch said that since the arrests and the public smearing of the activists' reputations, women's Twitter activity was quiet.[16] As of 27 June 2018, Al Jazeera English stated that nine of the activists, out of a total of 17, remained under arrest without contact with their families or lawyers.[17]

Similar situations arose in 2018 for individuals making political statements against Mohammad bin Salman's policies. Economist Essam al-Zamil was charged with terrorism as a result of questioning plans involving the national oil company. Political prisoners were held without trial, and public figures, such as Salman al-Awdah, were "wanted dead", according to The Economist.[18]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Thousands of Saudis sign petition to end male guardianship of women". The Guardian. 26 September 2016. Archived from the original on 21 May 2018. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Jamjoom, Mohammed; Escobedo, Tricia (10 July 2009). "Saudi woman activist demands right to travel". CNN. Archived from the original on 26 May 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2009.
  3. 1 2 Hawari, Walaa (14 November 2011). "Women intensify campaign against legal guardian". Arab News. Archived from the original on 25 January 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 McKernan, Bethan (23 May 2018). "Saudi police arrest three more women's rights activists". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 May 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  5. 1 2 Dadouch, Sarah (22 May 2018). "Saudi Arabia expands crackdown on women's rights activists". CompuServe/Thomson Reuters. Archived from the original on 22 May 2018. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  6. ↑ al-Fassi, Hatoon (15 July 2007). Women in Pre-Islamic Arabia: Nabataea. British Archaeological Reports International Series. British Archaeological Reports. p. 129. ISBN 978-1-4073-0095-5.
  7. 1 2 Hammond, Andrew; Sara Ledwith (30 April 2008). "Saudi scholar finds ancient women's rights". Thomson Reuters. Archived from the original on 29 May 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
  8. ↑ Lacey, Robert (2009). Inside the Kingdom : Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia. Viking. p. 48. Those old men actually believed that the Mosque disaster was God's punishment to us because we were publishing women's photographs in the newspapers, says a princess, one of Khaled's nieces. The worrying thing is that the king [Khaled] probably believed that as well ... Khaled had come to agree with the sheikhs. Foreign influences and bida'a were the problem. The solution to the religious upheaval was simple--more religion.
  9. 1 2 "Boxed In — Women and Saudi Arabia's Male Guardianship System". Human Rights Watch. 16 July 2016. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  10. ↑ Dankowitz, Aluma (28 December 2006). "Saudi Writer and Journalist Wajeha Al-Huwaider Fights for Women's Rights". Middle East Media Research Institute. Archived from the original on 26 May 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  11. ↑ Ghanem, Sharifa (17 January 2012). "Saudi women battle male guardianship laws, push for rights". Bikya Masr. Archived from the original on 25 January 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  12. ↑ al-Munajjid, Muhammad Saalih (General Supervisor) (25 November 2006). "She married without her wali's consent and the marriage contract was done without her being present – islamqa.info". islamqa.info. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  13. ↑ The Hanafi School and the issue of Wali
  14. 1 2 Ensor, Josie (26 September 2016). "Saudis file first-ever petition to end male guardianship". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 26 September 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  15. 1 2 "Saudi Arabia: Women's Rights Advocates Arrested — Jumping Ahead of Crown Prince's Reforms Risks Jail Time". Human Rights Watch. 18 May 2018. Archived from the original on 19 May 2018. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  16. 1 2 Turner, Karen (25 May 2018). "Women who fought to lift the women's driving ban in Saudi Arabia are getting arrested". Vox (website). Archived from the original on 26 May 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  17. 1 2 "Saudis arrest another women's right activist". Al Jazeera English. 2018-06-27. Archived from the original on 2018-06-27. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
  18. ↑ "Repression in Saudi Arabia has reached a new level". The Economist. Retrieved 2018-10-10.
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