Dr. Nahid Bashatah
I WOULD like to start this article by citing a wise Latin saying: “A right sometimes sleeps, but never dies.”
Muflih Al-Qahtani, the chairman of the National Society for Human Rights, recently said that the male guardianship rules in the Kingdom aim to protect and help women. He said this during an interview with a local daily and in response to a recent report published by Human Rights Watch entitled, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System.”
A few questions crop up at this juncture. When a male guardian does not permit women to complete their education, find work or travel, can we call that protection or guardianship? Why do some health agencies not give women their rights that have been sanctioned by the government? Why do paramedics or firemen require a male guardian’s consent before transporting a woman to the hospital or entering a house to put out a fire?
I have more questions. Why does a male guardian refuse to go and pick up the woman under his custodianship from prison? Why does a woman end up in a shelter as a result? Why does the guardianship system continue to render women’s political rights ineffective? On what religious basis is guardianship based?
Real guardianship in Islam can be summed up in the following two sayings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): “The best of you are those who are best to their families (wives, sisters, etc.) and I am the best of you to my family.” In another, he said: “It is only the honorable men who shall honor women; it is only the dishonorable men who shall dishonor women.”
I call upon Al-Qahtani to pay a quick visit to the female waiting rooms in our courts and listen to the painful stories of injustices inflicted upon those poor women because of male guardianship. Some men are completely irresponsible and immature. How can we give them guardianship over women?
The majority of the public today rejects the injustices inflicted on women because of old-fashioned traditional norms that have no basis in religion.
In 2013 and 2014, the courts received 11,130 guardianship applications filed by men who wanted the courts to appoint them male guardians over women, according to Ministry of Justice reports.
We all need to take drastic action to end these injustices against women and repeal the guardianship system.
