Position Paper 3:

Women In Saudi Arabia: 

Here in America we as women are extremely blessed to have the rights and to feel some safety in our everyday lives. Other women in countries around the world are not nearly as lucky as us. For example I'll be discussing the women of Saudi Arabia, who have been a hot topic in the world of human rights. The picture above I got from a video created by the Human Rights Watch which shows 10 Reasons Why Saudi Women Flee which I have linked here. Saudi Arabia is located in Southwest Asia and is the largest country of Arabia. First I want to discuss Saudi Arabia's male guardianship system, which means a man controls a woman's life from birth to death. Which means their day to day lives are dictated by someone else every step they make is not their own. The thing that shocked me the most is that the man controlling the woman can be father, husband, brother, or even a son. A woman's daily routine can be dictated by her own son. Which blows my mind because here in America we respect our elders no matter what our gender is. Reason number one being women are required to get permission from their male guardian to travel abroad or get a passport. They have to have male guardians permission to get married. Require male guardians permission to study abroad. Employers can require male guardian permission for women to work. Medical facilities can require male guardians permission for a women to receive healthcare. Divorce is where women face a load of inequality with children and inheritance. One of the most severe things is women who try to leave an abusive male guardian can be arrested, returned to their family, and even face charges of disobedience. Even though their guardian is abusive it is extremely difficult to legally change their guardian. Women in Saudi Arabia who fight for their rights publicly can face jail time or persecution. The Human Rights Watch has started their campaign where you can donate towards taking a stand against male guardianship in Saudi Arabia. 

To go along with this information I also looked into a recent article by The Week UK  titled "Things that women in Saudi Arabia still can't do" which I thought provides even more detail about the daily lives of these women. Women still cannot wear clothes or makeup that are intended to 'show off' their beauty. Now a lot of this has to do with religion and their interpretation of islamic law and is heavily enforced in certain areas. Now women are not required to cover their faces but they are typically harassed by local police for showing too much flesh. Even though these women are wearing long sleeve floor length robes and a head scarf they are still being taunted for their faces being shown. In 2017, women were urged to be even more modest making sure there were no slits, openings, or decorations that would bring extra attention to them. Women also are still held to certain restrictions when it comes to talking or interacting with men. Multiple businesses around Saudi Arabia have separate entrances for women and men. This is to limit the interaction between men and women who are not related. Now beaches and amusements parks are also segregated. "Unlawful mixing can lead to criminal charges being brought against both parties, but women typically face harsher punishment." Even though they both commit the crime, just because of their gender they face a worse punishment. Women in Saudi Arabia still cannot compete freely in sports, in-fact in 2015 it was proposed that they have Olympic Games without any female athletes. When they sent their first female athletes to the 2012 Olympics in London, they were harshly criticized and were labeled in news as 'prostitutes' while being accompanied by their male guardian. Women in Saudi Arabia also aren't allowed to try on clothes while shopping which was recently highlighted in an article by Vanity Fair named "A Girl's Guide to Saudi Arabia." Because being disrobed in public even behind closed doors is too much for the men.  

Here in the United States women aren't necessarily represented in a positive light but I'd like to think that things are better here than in other countries. That's why I was very shocked to learn that even though a multitude of women run and hold offices here in the US we are still significantly behind other countries. The most shocking was even though Saudi Arabia is known for their poor treatment of women, women there are represented more in politics then here in America.  Now this doesn't seem like a huge deal to some but the fact that a country that banned women from getting drivers licenses are better represented. Women in Saudi are taught that the world outside their home is a dangerous place and they should fear it. In schools flyers are still hung from the 1980's that warn about "dangerous activities" for women. These so called dangerous activities include answering the telephone, going to a mall or any other gender mixed places, listening to music, etc.  

Overall it's safe to say being a woman in Saudi Arabia can be described as unpleasant at the very least. Having to receive permission for daily activities and fighting for basic rights. Not to mention asking to be treated like a human being but receiving punishment for speaking their minds. Women aren't nearly as important as males in Saudi and that is made very clear with all these laws to back my statement. Now even though some of these laws are based off the Islamic Law but these laws are created by interpretation. Even though some laws are being changed and women are slowly gaining some freedom things have to change for women to be depicted like humans rather than property in Saudi Arabia.