Local Press: Don’t snatch your wife’s pay packet

These days, some men marry workingwomen solely for the purpose of grabbing their monthly pay packet. Some put the condition that their wives-to-be continue working when they propose to them. While these men are asleep, their women will be fighting traffic congestions to reach their workplace. They wake up only to take their salary.
There used to be no official objection to men taking their wives’ salaries, whether with her consent or by force, until the summary court in Jeddah recently made a ruling on this. The court prevented a man from coming near the salary of his wife, unless she agreed to it. The appeals court confirmed the ruling and made it final. This historic verdict has put an end to the phenomenon of men taking the salaries of their wives by hook or crook.
The verdicts of both the summary and appeals courts corrected a shameful and regrettable situation in which men lived on the income of their wives. The courts also asked the man to repay a loan of SR120,000. He had taken the loan in his wife’s name, so that if she was unable to pay, she would go to jail while he would enjoy his freedom.
The ruling was widely welcomed by Saudi society. Though it is not customary to comment on court verdicts, I find myself obliged to salute the judges of the two courts for their historic decision, for which many workingwomen had anxiously waited.