Twitter is alight with female empowerment, as Saudi Arabian women take to social media to call for an end to the Kingdom’s oppressive system of male guardianship.
Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s worst records for women’s rights and freedom of speech. But this has not stopped hundreds of Saudi women, who are fearlessly fighting for their rights in the Kingdom with the hashtag #StopEnslavingSaudiWomen.
The male guardianship laws in Saudi Arabia are one of the largest barriers to women’s rights, creating a system in which women are treated like property. Under male guardianship, a woman must obtain permission from a male guardian to travel abroad, marry, or be released from prison, and must even be required to provide guardian consent to work or get health care.
Lashing out against this and other women’s issues in the kingdom, many have taken to twitter to condemn male guardianship.
#StopEnslavingSaudiWomen
— تشيميمندا(@ifiguredit) August 4, 2016
I can't get that job..
I can't marry you..
I can't travel for treatment..
Cause he said NO pic.twitter.com/2VQjOiy5Ru
#سعوديات_نطالب_باسقاط_الولايه22@Deeyah_Khan
— لـيـالـي★ (@mslel0) August 12, 2016
Saudi women need everyone to know the truth
(The painful truth) pic.twitter.com/6Ow9nrM2WN
#سعوديات_نطالب_باسقاط_الولايه25
— مشعل بن راشد (@Mishal_Rashid) August 13, 2016
شرع ﷲ أتى لنعيش به بسلام وسعادة ، طالما أن الولاية بشكلها الحالي فيها استبداد وظلم وتسلط فهي ليست من شرع ﷲ .
Translation: God’s Sharia law came to us so we could live in peace and happiness, as long as it is in its present state of tyranny, oppression, and control it is not from God’s law!
However, some Saudis (particularly men) support the male guardianship law and have condemned the movement against it.
هاشتاق فاشل يريدون به الفتنه فقط..
— حًنِيَن آلَيَاسِمًين (@Ngj1f) August 4, 2016
#سعوديات_نطالب_باسقاط_الولايه
Translation: People only want to sow discord with this hashtag.
Yet the women in the #StopEnslavingSaudiWomen campaign remain tenacious in the fight for their rights, with the hashtag gaining momentum as a growing number take a stand against what many describe as Saudi Arabia’s unjust patriarchy.
AM
