Citizenship empowerment: A failed project in the absence of strategy

COUPLE of weeks ago I received a heartbreaking response to my article on “Women Empowerment: A Failed Project in the Absence of Strategy”. In it, the author informed me of the structural discrimination she faces as the daughter of a Saudi woman and a foreign father. As I read her tragic tale, I was overwhelmed by the injustices taking place toward my women folk as they were systemically being stripped of their most basic right: The right to equal citizenship.
In general, several gender discriminations related to nationality acquisition come into play for Saudis marrying foreigners, but the ones that suffer the most injustice are Saudi women. The first type of discrimination affects children of Saudi mothers. Whereas a Saudi father is able to pass on his nationality equally to both males and females upon birth — a Saudi mother cannot do so until her children of either gender reach the legal age of 18.
The second gender discrimination taking place affects the foreign spouse of the Saudi: Whereas the Saudi male spouse is able to grant his foreign wife his nationality once she bears him a son — or after 5 years of marriage if she chooses to do so; A Saudi female spouse is never able to provide that same right to her foreign spouse unless he qualifies to do so based on the complex point system noted in the website of the Ministry of Interior. The third gender discrimination taking place affects the male and female siblings of a Saudi mother: Once either of them reach the legal age of 18 years, a male youth is able to apply for citizenship if he chooses to do so but within certain conditions; Whereas the female youth will never have that privilege at any age… unless and only if she marries a Saudi national, a fact that not only strips the mother of her basic civic right to pass on her nationality equally to both genders of her children, but one that also strips the daughter born in Saudi of her biological right to inherit her mother’s nationality. Instead, that right is passed onto a total stranger (a Saudi husband) simply beause he was born male!
You see, the issue that the author was addressing is not unique to her case but is general to thousands of similar cases Kingdomwide. Discriminating against the offspring of Saudi women marrying foreign men is a phenomenon deeply rooted in culture and sustained by archaic legislations that build upon the precept that Saudi women are in fact “perpetual minors” in constant need of male guardianship — regardless of his nationality.
To conclude, I will reiterate the conclusion of last week’s article: “As a strong advocate for empowerment of all kinds, especially the empowerment of women, I believe that any form of empowerment must have at its core the prerequisite of civic empowerment. Hence for us women, until the time when we are given equal rights as citizens of our country, and obliged by the same responsibilities that are imposed on our brethren, then we will never be able to “strategically” move forward as a nation to bring about the genuine reforms we desperately need.