Saudi Women Can Now Vote Without Permission From Men

Back in October, we reported that King Abdullah was allowing women in Saudi Arabia to vote and to run for low-level municiple offices. Today it was announced that not only will women be able to exercise these new rights, they won’t have to get permission or be supervised by a man.

I know this doesn’t sound like much but Saudi Arabia is still stuck in the 12th century and women aren’t allowed to do anything, and the little they can do, they can only do with the permission of a male guardian. See, women still can’t drive or travel freely throughout the country or work. They can’t even receive medical attention in a hospital without a guy being present. They can only study abroad with the permission of a guy and he has to accompany them the whole time.  

A woman can’t get married or divorced in Saudi Arabia unless she has the permission of a male guardian. The country is guided by an ultraconservative interpretation of Islam called Wahhabism and is overseen by the Shura counsel, which consists of all men. Go figure?

The male guardianship laws are particularly stifling for women, Saudi female activist Wajeha al-Hawidar said. “These laws make the woman like a child in all aspects of her life. She is not dealt with as an adult with a fully developed brain,” al-Hawidar said.

So for the first time in the history of this backwards country, women are going to able to do something significant without a man being involved. As positive as the news is coming out of Riyadh, these laws won’t go into effect until 2015. For more on the story, check out our friends at [HuffingtonPost]