Khalaf Al-Harbe
Okaz
Some traditional demagogues are trying to picture the campaign to eliminate male guardianship over rational women as a flagrant call for promiscuity of women. They consider it an open invitation for women to revolt against family laws.
Such peculiar imaginations impede the path of any society’s development and progress. They kill the innate desire for natural advancement.
These sick minds should realize that the campaign to abolish the male guardianship is aimed at obliterating the administrative and legal barriers chaining women and preventing them from practicing their lives as legally competent human beings.
The excessive and unjust use of the male guardianship is the root cause of all the bureaucratic procedures impeding the development of women.
It is not true that the authority of the family over its feminine gender will snap with the abolishment of the guardianship. The traditional loyalty of the girls to their families is built on trust, good upbringing and natural love between family members.
This is case of every girl in Arab societies and in the Saudi society as well. The female members are loving and loyal to their families despite harassment from the male guardians.
We have to admit that we have an administrative case, which is not commensurate with the spirit of the contemporary age. It does not have a parallel anywhere in the world.
Because of this unique administrative bondage, our women are chained by strings, which are held by the men. If fact, these ropes may be in the hands of a husband, a father, a brother, an uncle or even a son.
The woman cannot go anywhere or do anything without the approval of her male guardian. She is not able to break these fetters no matter how old or educated the woman may be.
The woman is rendered helpless by the strings in the hands of her male guardian. She cannot study, work, travel or process any paperwork unless the male guardian signs a special paper showing his consent.
The fetters of the male guardianship have been a real predicament for the women, especially to those who live under difficult family conditions such as family disintegration or the early death of the father.
This may put them under the mercy of men who are not responsible or wise enough to understand the circumstances of the women.
In natural families, a father will not lose his daughter due to an administrative decision shedding off his guardianship.
The women will not revolt against their families just because they are emancipated from the chains of the male guardianship, which are choking them.
The family life will continue as it is without the male guardianship over the women. The woman in this case will be a free person and a citizen with complete legal competence.
She can then help her family and contribute to the development of her country instead of remaining a weak person who needs help all the time.
The abolishment of the male guardianship will free the women from slavery. It will enable them to build their own future and contribute to that of their homeland.
