Gulf | Saudi Arabia
Call to end male guardianship of women
The Saudi government should abide by its international obligations and dismantle discriminatory policies against women, including male guardianship of women, a report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch said.
- AP
- Published: 23:50 April 20, 2008
Riyadh: The Saudi government should abide by its international obligations and dismantle discriminatory policies against women, including male guardianship of women, a report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch said.
The 50-page report, which will be released today, draws on more than 100 interviews with Saudi women to document the effects of these policies on their rights.
"The Saudi government sacrifices basic human rights to maintain male control over women," said Farida Deif, women's rights researcher for the Middle East at Human Rights Watch.
"Saudi women won't make any progress until the government ends the abuses that stem from these misguided policies." The report, Perpetual Minors: Human Rights Abuses Stemming from Male Guardianship and Sex Segregation in Saudi Arabia, lists the restrictions that women find themselves under because of male guardianship and the segregation of sexes enforced in the kingdom.
Medical procedures
Saudi women are prevented from accessing government agencies that have not established female sections unless they have a male representative. Despite national regulations to the contrary, some hospitals require a guardian's permission to allow women to be admitted, agree to medical procedures for themselves or their children or be discharged, according to the report.
A Saudi woman's access to justice is also severely constrained, according to the report.
Hatoon Al Fassi, a Saudi historian, said that while the information in the summary of the report that she read was accurate, it is not new. "These are issues that I and other Saudi women have been talking about publicly for many years," said Al Fassi.
Mufleh Al Qah'tani, deputy head of the National Society for Human Rights, said the group was studying the report.
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