Womens Status in Saudi Arabia Today - Research Paper Example

Women’s Status in Saudi Arabia Today In the patriarchal society of Saudi Arabia, the social, economic, and political sectors are almost entirely dominated by men. Traditionally and still mostly in reality, women are expected to wear a black shroud and hide their faces and fulfill their domestic responsibilities. Current country reports reveal how women in Saudi Arabia still experience systematic social, political, and economic discrimination.i Strongly rooted societal customs, alongside traditional understanding of the Islamic law or Shari’a, continue to position women at the lower rungs of society. This essay discusses the social, economic, and political status of women in Saudi Arabia today. Women in Saudi Arabia are seriously underrepresented in important positions in both the private and public sectors. Possibly most evident, women experience discrimination in personal-status laws, which focus on features of family life such as marriage, inheritance, and child custody. Most Saudi laws proclaim that the husband is the head of the family, authorize the husband to control the decision of his wife about getting a paid job, and in certain instances openly instruct the wife to submit to her husband.ii However, major attempts have been initiated to advance women’s status over the recent years. Women have become more involved in business, education, and public life all over Saudi Arabia. The specific issues that have been of utmost concern to women in Saudi Arabia today relate to employment opportunities, access to health care and education, political rights, and legal protection. These issues have been the focus of almost all women and women’s movement in the region.iii For decades Saudi women have fought for equal opportunities. Today, they fight for their right to leave their houses without the supervision of a male kin and their right to work. The authority of the male relative guarantees the lack of freedom of Saudi women. A reform in women’s legal status is certainly the major change concerning women’s status in Saudi Arabia. The Social, Economic, and Political Status of Saudi Women Today The status of women is continuously advancing and in numerous universities the population of female students continuously grows. There are still a small number of women involved in paid employment, but those who are part of the labor force occupy very important positions and are willing and prepared to stand up for their careers, a characteristic highly valued by private organizations.iv Women are becoming more visible in new industries wherein they are now permitted to work; yet, poverty, homelessness, and joblessness continue to impinge on the lives of many Saudi women. Even though financial hardship is pervasive among the lower classes and the absence of rights seems to be provoking greater responses, there remains a massive number of Saudi women who tolerate living in situations of absolute submission.v The social mobility of women is highly restricted in Saudi Arabia. Saudi women receive lower quality of education compared to men. An official educational doctrine is to uphold “belief in the One God, Islam as the way of life, and Muhammad as God’s Messenger”.vi Established doctrine specifically mandates religion in women’s education: “The purpose of educating a girl is to bring her up in a proper Islamic way so as to perform her duty in life, be an ideal and successful housewife and a good mother, ready to do things which suit her nature such as teaching, nursing and medical treatment.”vii Under Islamic law, a woman is obliged to act timidly in the presence of others and is commonly expected to fully commit herself to domestic duties. Religious belief about the roles of men and women and the assumption that education is more important for men has led to limited education prospects for women. The value of gender-based segregation in the workplace is also used to give reason for limiting the fields of study of women. By tradition, women have been discouraged from taking courses in law, architecture, and engineering.viii This has changed recently as almost 60 per cent of the total population of university students in Saudi Arabia are women. Yet, traditions of male guardianship prevent women from studying abroad. They are largely encouraged to take courses in social sciences and service-based industries.ix Technology is a very important tool in Saudi women’s education. Numerous women’s colleges offer distance education to accommodate women who do not have adequate or good transportation access. Male professors are not permitted to teach at women’s classes. There are a small number of female professors. In addition, child marriage delays or hampers women’s education. Child-bearing and domestic duties are very difficult and time-consuming. The number of female drop-outs rises around puberty, because women sacrifice education for marriage.x Still, even though Saudi women are largely obliged to fulfill domestic duties, it would be incorrect to believe that women’s role in Saudi Arabia is limited to the familial domain. The progress of Saudi Arabia has been accompanied by growing education and employment prospects for women. In 1960, the Saudi government launched a national education program for women. By the latter part of the 1970s, roughly half of the total population of Saudi women was going to school.xi Several years afterward, all Saudi women were granted access to education. Nowadays, Saudi women make up a very small portion of the native labor force. Islamic law gives women the right to work, as long as their work duties do not negatively affect their important responsibilities at home. Women may also seek paid employment if it is required for their upkeep. In theory, Saudi women today can occupy any governmental or public position wherein they do have dealings with men.xii Private organizations permit women to interact with men, even though these private organizations are expected to follow the practices of public agencies. Women are permitted to work provided that their male guardians allow them. Women’s job must also be appropriate for their mental capacity and physical ability. For instance, it is prohibited for women to occupy top governmental positions because they are dominated by men. Nursing and teaching are usual jobs for Saudi women. However, recently, the number of women involved in the finance industry dramatically increased.xiii Putting into effect a policy promoting greater employment prospects for women was opposed by conservative Saudi citizens and the labor ministry. They argue that according to Islamic law, women’s participation in paid employment is a violation of their ‘natural state’.xiv However, the labor ministry has been indecisive in its position on women’s employment. Minister Dr. Ghazi Al-Qusaibi stated in 2006: “the Ministry is not acting to [promote] women’s employment since the best place for a woman to serve is in her own home.”xv And then he said: “Therefore no woman will be employed without the explicit consent of her guardian. We will also make sure that the [woman’s] job will not interfere with her work at home with her family, or with her eternal duty of raising her children…”xvi (Harrison 302) When women perform the same work as that of men, the men receive greater and superior benefits. Nonetheless, Saudi women are currently beginning to occupy important positions in medicine, education, and business. Saudi Arabia has a Consultative Assembly of legislators designated by the monarch. Before 2011, only males aged 30 years and above are allowed to become legislators. But on September 2011, King Abdullah announced that women are now allowed to serve in the Consultative Assembly.xvii Women were discouraged to vote or aspire for a governmental position in the first municipal elections in Saudi Arabia in numerous years. These women fought for their right to vote and run for public office in the municipal elections of 2011, trying fruitlessly to become part of the electorate.xviii King Abdullah declared in September 2011 that women would be granted their right to vote and right to run as political candidates in the municipal elections in 2015. Women are permitted to become part of the boards of chambers of commerce. Two women were appointed to the board of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2008.xix But women are totally absent in the Supreme Judicial Council. In February 2009, a woman was appointed as deputy minister for women’s education. The government declared in 2010 that female lawyers would be granted the privilege to represent women in trials.xx Saudi Arabia’s modernization did not relax the social constraints imposed on women in the past. Rather, as the power of the state enlarged, controls that previously functioned on the cultural level become legitimately established as restrictions implementable by state organizations. Several of these rules are more symbolic than practical. For instance, there is a rule that women should not be given medical services in hospitals unless a male relative gives authorization to do so, but in reality health care decisions are reached in discussion with the patient, members of the family, and medical personnel.xxi Basically, rules about women generally work as ‘statements of principle’, and those working for the learned authorities who create them is but a specific way the system demonstrates its identity as an Islamic regime.xxii Nevertheless, even with the greater demonstrations of dedication to Islamic control and authority, rules about women remain a crucial value in expressing the government’s Islamic identity. It is such rules that serve as barriers to women’s social, economic, and political growth, affecting their everyday lives, their family life, their purchasing power, and strengthening the power of men while guaranteeing that family life is a life that deserves affirmation. Rules about women, therefore, are not only barriers to their personal and professional development, but are also a cradle of legitimacy for the state. Conclusions There is without a doubt or question that women’s status in Saudi Arabia has been highly provocative and controversial. The social, economic, and political status of women in Saudi Arabia is generally, if not completely misinterpreted. The country has been greatly pressured by the West regarding the rights of women. The issue of women’s rights and status in Saudi Arabia is largely attributed to either traditional values, religious beliefs, or a combination of both. But the truth is it is the fundamentalist, fanatical principles that have ruled Saudi Arabia and brought about profound influences on the way of life, beliefs, and values of the Saudi people. That, though, has transformed now, and the status of women in Saudi Arabia is going toward a more positive direction. Notes Read More