Saudi women have many legal problems, some of them related to family issues. In all cases, they need to deal with government agencies, security and legal bodies for follow up action and to guarantee their rights. Most of the time the woman is alone and needs someone to support her case — whether another woman or an official agency.
And because there are no places for a woman to seek refuge, especially when she doesn’t have a male offspring, brother, husband or father to help, she relies on media outlets to reach out to the people hoping this will help her find legal redress.
Lately there has been a series of television programs that deal with sensitive social issues and tackle them boldly. To increase their viewing such programs compete with one another by choosing hosts or hostesses who ask searching questions to unearth hidden information from a guest or a government official. Also, these programs try to tackle the problems with a transparency that the Saudi community isn’t used to. This has added to their popularity.
Ours is a conservative community that finds it hard to discuss its private problems openly. But when there’s an attempt to help and an assurance that personal information will be kept confidential, people will be encouraged to speak out believing that someone is there to help.
Rima Al-Shamek’s program Media Portraits (Berasim Alsahafa) earned its popularity through honest presentation and direct interaction and dialogue with citizens and officials. I remember during one of the episodes a case was presented of a man who abandoned his wife and child without providing them any financial compensation. Then this woman was divorced after years of suffering because of court procedures.
There are painful social problems some people go through without knowing how to find help. Such programs are the best way to support these people. For instance, a middle-aged woman with sixteen children was abandoned and thrown in a mental asylum by her husband. She called one of the programs in a desperate attempt for help because she couldn’t find anyone to listen to her trauma. Her phone call aroused feelings of empathy and compassion. Yet the question remains: How could all the legal bodies ditch this woman? Is it possible that this woman and others couldn’t find a way to solve their problems except through the media? Are they ignorant of their legal rights and the procedures that they must follow to obtain their rights? Or are they incapable of receiving the help they badly need?
Whatever the answers, it’s obvious that our women in general are unaware of their legal rights. Even if they knew some of them, they usually don’t know whom to approach for legal redress. I’m not just addressing marital problems; I’m referring to all social, educational, commercial and health issues.
Islam is a beautiful, honest religion. The Qur’an and the Sunnah contain rules to tackle such issues. If only people knew and used them there wouldn’t be that many problems. Unfortunately, the community suffers from a lack of religious and legal awareness. The situation will never change unless educated women and legal consultants start enlightening other women on their rights on all levels and help them acquire legal consultations whenever possible or even approach an official who might help solve their problems. A women’s legal committee must not only educate others and make them aware of their rights; it should also prepare all official documents, review files of applicants professionally according to the law and then submit it to the concerned agency. And because so many women lack means of transportation to follow up their cases this committee could hire assistants dedicated to this task.
This will elevate women’s role in Saudi society and encourage them to develop better awareness of their rights. This will also make them professionally competent to seek legal means to get these rights and protect them from injustice and abuse.
— Dr. Maha Al-Hujailan is a medical researcher at King Khaled University Hospital in Riyadh. ([email protected])
