Men who use their guardianship duties to exploit women for cash and other benefits should be punished severely, several experts have said.

This comes in the wake of an increasing number of cases being heard in the country’s courts about men seeking payment or physical relationships in exchange for helping the women under their guardianship to travel or complete documentation such as passports at government offices.

Arab News spoke to a woman whose uncle, who had become her guardian when her rich father died, refused to let her marry unless she gave him half her fortune. The uncle made this demand after she lived for several years in his house.

Amira Kashgary, a writer and associate professor in linguistics at King Abdulaziz University, said that the government must take action against these perpetrators.

Government agencies should ensure there is better monitoring of legislation overseeing guardianship. “People tend to abuse the law if there is no monitoring,” she said.

She said some men force their sisters to pay for permission to travel. “So why do guardians exist? He does not travel with her, so the only motive is money,” she said.

Mohammad Saidi, head of the Islamic studies department at Umm Al-Qura University, said guardianship is permitted under Islam, but there would always be those who abuse the law for selfish purposes.

Khalid Al-Sughayer, a psychologist and family consultant, said: “You will always find people trying to circumvent the law, whether divine or man-made.” He said exploitation of women, whether a wife, daughter or sister, is forbidden in Islam and those who indulge in this behavior have weak faith.

Al-Sughayer said patriarchal Arabic societies have assisted in creating this kind of abuse, by giving men too much control over the lives of women, rather than protecting them.

Lawyer Feryal Kanj urged women being abused in this way to launch lawsuits against their tormentors.