Until recently women in Saudi Arabia were not allowed to drive a car or have a license. Some say men believed women were too stupid to drive but others disagree, regardless no company would issue a female a driver’s license. This is not a first for Saudi Arabia, In previous times Women, young girls and female babies have been sold into slavery, marriages, sex slavery and more. Saudi Arabia is one of the only countries that has not accepted the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Women were viewed as property whose only purpose was to bear children and serve men. But recently, those views are being challenged.
Although male citizens are not forced to act a certain way, discrimination against women can be argued with by people using Islam as an excuse. Islam’s guidelines have been taken and interpreted in a way that does not favor women.
Views among Muslims on women’s rights currently are varied. For example, a survey taken by the Atlantic showed that half the Muslim countries believe that women should always obey their husband, but the other half disagree. They also disagree on whether a woman should have the right to divorce their husband.
The opinions are all different but one thing is clear, Muslim women in the middle east do not have near any of the rights that American women do.
In Saudi Arabia women have to be very conscious of their actions so they do not get harassed or in legal trouble for everyday tasks. They are not allowed to try on clothes when shopping, swim in public unless there is an all women pool, keep their children in a divorce, interact with men excessively that are not their relatives and many more things that women in other countries would not hesitate to do.
Not everything is a law but rules may be harshly enforced by police or other men. There was never a law against women driving but no company would issue a woman a license. There is also no law preventing women to take public transportation, but it is generally discouraged.
Socially women are looked down upon by extremists and other citizens follow out of fear. Laws will not change the minds of those who were brought up with these beliefs and do not see women as people. It is easy to disagree with these rules and morals if someone did not grow up in Saudi Arabia where it is commonplace. But some women who grew up there live in the fear of being arrested or punished for trying to change the country. Movements are developing and Arab women are slowly getting the confidence they have been without for hundreds of years.
Just like racism in America in the 1950s, these laws will not be a quick fix, but any step towards women’s rights is a big change and a step towards equal rights.
