Women’s Bans. Saudi Arabia knows no limits

Written by Margot Cleverly

In 2019, Rahaf Mohammed’s escape from Saudi Arabia made international headlines, revealing the brutal reality of life for millions of women in this country. The male guardianship system ensures that every woman from birth to death remains under a man’s control. It is the father, husband, brother, or even son who makes key decisions about her life, treating adult women as minors.

Legal Prison from the Cradle

Saudi Arabia applies the most restrictive system of control over women among all Middle Eastern states. Every woman is assigned a male guardian who formally represents her in contacts with the state and institutions. This legal solution makes adult women eternal children in the eyes of the law.

The Saudi state treats women as legally incompetent persons regardless of their age, education, or social position. A university professor, doctor, or entrepreneur equally needs a guardian’s consent for basic life activities. This system goes far beyond traditional social roles, being a mechanism of subordination written into law.

The Ministry of Interior enforces these regulations with iron consistency. Officials have access to electronic systems tracking guardians’ consents for women’s individual actions. Any attempt to circumvent these regulations can end in arrest and forced return to the family.

Women who want to escape this system use desperate methods. Some try to gain access to the guardian’s phone to change settings in government apps controlling their movement. It’s a dangerous game, as detection of such an attempt leads to even stricter restrictions.

Control of Travel and Basic Rights

A passport in Saudi Arabia is a document that most women can only dream about. Without a male guardian’s consent, a woman cannot obtain a travel document or leave the country. Every foreign trip requires electronic consent recorded in the ministerial system, which the guardian can revoke at any moment.

These restrictions include even the shortest tourist trips or business travels. An educated woman invited to an international conference must ask her father or husband for permission. A businesswoman running a company cannot sign a contract abroad without male consent.

Until June 2018, women did not even have the right to drive a car. The change to this regulation was widely advertised as progress in women’s rights. In practice, however, most restrictions remained intact, and the driver’s license proved to be a minor concession while maintaining fundamental control.

The travel control system is one of the most painful restrictions for Saudi women. It prevents escape from domestic violence, realization of professional ambitions, or even contact with family living abroad. Women become prisoners of their own country without a court sentence.

Marriage as a Forced Transaction

Women in Saudi Arabia do not have the right to independently choose a life partner. Marriage requires the guardian’s consent and his signature on the marriage certificate. A woman becomes the subject of a transaction between two men whose decision determines her future.

Islamic law as interpreted in Saudi Arabia allows men to have four wives simultaneously. This solution places women in the position of goods that can be shared among co-wives. Each of them must accept the existence of the others, having no rights to exclusivity.

In 2019, the Shura Council proposed a law on a minimum marriage age of eighteen years. However, this project contained numerous exceptions allowing marriages with teenagers aged fifteen to eighteen with court consent. This legal loophole leaves room for forced marriages of children.

Girls are often forced into marriage with much older men chosen by their fathers. Economic benefits for the family or political alliances between clans matter more than the young woman’s happiness. Opposition to such a marriage can result in violence or complete disinheritance.

Domestic Violence with No Way Out

Statistics on domestic violence in Saudi Arabia are horrifying. In 2015, over eight thousand cases of psychological and physical violence against women were officially reported. The actual number is probably many times higher, as most victims do not report abuse.

Research shows that thirty-five percent of women have experienced domestic violence. That’s one in three women living in constant fear of their father, husband, or brother. The guardianship system does not protect them from violence, but rather legitimizes it through total dependence on the guardian.

Reporting domestic violence requires the guardian’s consent or presence, creating an absurd situation. A woman beaten by her husband must ask him for permission to file a complaint against him. Police and the judiciary do not accept reports without a male guardian’s approval.

Women trying to escape violence end up in shelters that in practice function like prisons. They cannot leave without family consent or acceptance of a marriage arranged by authorities. Some stay there for years, waiting for the guardian to decide to take them back or for a new guardian in the form of a husband to be found.

Repression Against Activists

Since 2018, the Saudi government has been conducting systematic repression against activists fighting for women’s rights. Mass arrests have affected dozens of women who publicly demanded the abolition of the guardianship system. Charges include crimes against the state, espionage, and undermining national security.

Detained activists are subjected to torture during interrogations. Human rights organization reports document the use of electric shocks, beatings, and sexual violence. These methods are meant to break women’s spirits and deter others from human rights activism.

The trial process against activists occurs in violation of basic legal standards. They are denied access to lawyers, and families are not informed about the place of detention. Some of the arrested women disappear into the prison system for months without contact with the outside world.

Women held in prisons and camps wait there until they find a new guardian or agree to return to their family. Authorities offer them no path to independence or self-sufficiency. The system is designed so that every woman must remain under some man’s control, with no possibility of free life.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Margot Cleverly

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Margot's journey into women's history began with a box of forgotten letters in a Cambridge archive – suffragettes whose voices had been silenced for over a century. Since then, she's been on a mission to uncover the stories history overlooked.

What she writes about: Queens who ruled from the shadows. Scientists whose male colleagues took credit. Revolutionaries who risked everything. But also ordinary women – those who survived wars, raised families through upheaval, and shaped their communities in ways no one bothered to record.

Margot turns historical figures into real people. She writes with warmth and detail, making centuries-old stories feel surprisingly relevant. Rigorous research meets accessible storytelling – no dusty academic jargon, just compelling narratives backed by solid facts.

When she's not writing, you'll find her in regional archives, collecting oral histories, or visiting sites connected to the women she writes about.