Women Empowerment in Saudi Arabia

Women in Saudi Arabia. Picture: HASSAN AMMAR/AFP/Getty Images

   

In one of the most gender-segregated nations of the world and where women are not allowed to drive and are required to get the permission of a male guardian to study, travel or even get married, a major step has been taken. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman issued an order allowing women to benefit from government services such as education and healthcare without getting the consent of a male guardian.

The king has given three months for all government agencies to provide a list of procedures that require the consent of a male guardian, underscoring the urgency to change the system. With declining oil prices and large military spending for the Saudi-led military campaign in neighbouring Yemen, women are actually being viewed by the monarchy and society as important and vital to the economy’s well-being.

Women’s rights advocate and a director at the Jeddah-based Organisation of Islamic Co-operation, Maha Akeel welcomed the new changes that would empower women and give them more freedom in important life decisions. “Now at least it opens the door for discussion on the guardian system” Akeel told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “Women are independent and can take care of themselves” she added.