Saudi Arabia: Male Guardianship Policies Harm Women

In a 50-page report, Perpetual Minors: Human Rights Abuses Stemming from Male Guardianship and Sex Segregation in Saudi Arabia, Human Rights Watch draws on more than 100 interviews with Saudi women to document the effects of these discriminatory policies on womans most basic rights.  
 
The Saudi government sacrifices basic human rights to maintain male control over women, said Farida Deif, womens rights researcher for the Middle East at Human Rights Watch. Saudi women wont make any progress until the government ends the abuses that stem from these misguided policies.  
 
The authorities essentially treat adult women like legal minors who are not entitled to authority over their lives and well-being. Saudi women are similarly denied the legal right to make even trivial decisions for their children. Women cannot open bank accounts for children, enroll them in school, obtain school files, or travel with their children without written permission from the childs father.  
 
Saudi women are prevented from accessing government agencies that have not established female sections unless they have a male representative. The need to establish separate office spaces for women is a disincentive to hiring female employees, and female students are often relegated to unequal facilities with unequal academic opportunities.  
 
Male guardianship over adult women also contributes to their risk of confronting family violence, making it difficult for survivors of violence to avail themselves of protection or redress. Social workers, physicians, and lawyers told Human Rights Watch about the near impossibility of removing guardianship even from male guardians who are abusive.  

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