Consider the life of a woman in Saudi Arabia. By law, her husband, father or other male relative controls where she works and where she travels. But those days will soon be over.
By law, her husband, father or other male relative controls where she works and where she travels. She can’t get her own passport or register her marriage — or divorce — or even the birth of her own child.On Friday, buried within the dull legalese of a weekly gazette published by the Saudi government, much of the kingdom’s, or guardianship, system was abolished, heralding a new era for women in a society that has long viewed them as legal minors.
The amendments laying out the new rules also state that all Saudis “are equal in the right to work” regardless of sex, handicap, age or other criteria, and that employers are barred from firing women or threatening to do so during their pregnancy or maternity leave, as long they are not absent for more than six months over the course of a year.
One posted a clip of the American singer Lesley Gore performing the emancipation anthem “You Don’t Own Me.”Yet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler, is thought to be their driving force. Yet it was unclear how much those changes mattered as long as the guardianship system was in place. Over the last two years, the Saudi government has been embarrassed by a social media campaign waged by women who had fled the kingdom to escape men they said were abusing their guardianship powers.
Women still need approval to marry. They still cannot live on their own. If they go to a shelter, they can’t leave without a male guardian receiving them.
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