The Saudi government has failed to deliver on the promised reforms seeking to give more rights to Saudi women and end gender based discrimination.

In Saudi Arabia women are systematically discriminated against, they have few rights and have only been given the right to vote in the past year. In addition, all Saudi women are under guardianship throughout their lives, that is, they cannot take any decisions, drive or seek government services without the approval of their guardians. Leaving them under complete control of male relatives or their spouses and often leading to abuses. Indeed, a woman would be deemed to have consented to marriage if her guardian had consented even if she herself had not agreed. Guardianship is thus a de facto slavery status which deprives women of their right to be heard and take part in society.

Saudi women have been lobbying for several years to abolish the guardianship law and to end the systematic gender discrimination. In April, King Salman issued an order stating that agencies cannot deny services to women because they do not have their guardian’s consent (except for situations where the rules already require consent). The order also requires government agencies to submit a list of all procedures requiring male guardian consent by mid-July. However, since the beginning of July, the government has been unsurprisingly silent on the subject.

Although the order appears to be revolutionary, in reality, women still require consent for most essential government procedures such as traveling abroad, obtaining a passport, or getting married and it still continues to allow private individuals to ask women for their guardian’s consent. The only change this order creates, if enforced, is to prevent universities from denying enrollment and attendance of classes to women who do not have their guardian’s consent. This would be an extremely positive step as it would enable more women to seek an education without obtaining consent.

However, even if they are legally allowed to enroll and attend, they would probably not be able to actually attend classes without their guardian’s consent since women are not allowed to drive. Although under Saudi law there is no explicit ban preventing women from driving, in practice, driving licenses are only issued to men and women who are caught driving in public will be arrested. In 2014, Loujain al-Hathloul was arrested and kept in detention for 73 days, for defying this de facto ban.

Similarly, Maryam Al-Otaibi a Saudi Human Rights activist was arrested and kept in detention for 100 days after she fled her father’s house to lead an independent life. During the same month, Dina Ali Lasloom was arrested at Manilla airport trying to flee from her family in order to seek asylum in Australia. She was forcefully returned to Saudi Arabia and has not been heard from since.

ICSFT urges the Saudi Government to take action to end this de facto slavery and gender based discrimination. ICSFT also urges the international community and the relevant stakeholders to pressure the government into ending the discrimination against women and to launch an independent inquiry into the ongoing Human Rights violations.