The Washington Post, a widely circulated newspaper, said in the Al-Saud ruling that men’s guardianship laws were less than adequate for women, stressing in a letter to Mohammed bin Salman that human rights were not the palace decorations distributed as he wanted.
The newspaper said in an editorial that the Kingdom’s recent steps to ease the state of men’s jurisdiction over hard women and to give women more control over their lives could be welcomed and encouraged.
The newspaper noted that the Saudi system published resolutions allowing women to obtain a passport, register the birth of their children and obtain new protection against discrimination in the workplace, but these steps call for consideration of what has not been done to mitigate other abusive practices.
The Washington Post pointed out that the system of the guardianship of men on women in the Kingdom, calls on women to obtain the consent of men in a wide range of activities, and that women are second-class citizens. The new resolution raises part of this, namely allowing women to apply for travel permits without parental consent.
The newspaper said that the new resolutions prohibit discrimination in employment. This means that employers are no longer required to be approved by men for employment in the workplace, and maybe protected from dismissal when they are pregnant and need time outside their labor.
If the decisions made by the actual ruler Mohammed bin Salman could be announced now, why should women not be freed from the entire guardianship system? Why should she have the permission of her guardian – husband, father, and brother – to marry, get out of prison or be released from a shelter for women fleeing from male violence and access to university education? What is the justification for making some changes now?
The newspaper responds that “Saudi Arabia is a dictatorship, and the Crown Prince announces his decisions as he wants.”
The new decision should be a “bitter solution” for detained women, including Lujain al-Hathul, who was arrested from her home in the middle of the night of 15 May 2018 only because she dared to demand women’s rights, including the right to drive.
“If Saudi Arabia were serious about helping women and their full potential, it should release al-Hathall, and the rest of the detention centers, as well as the men, arrested to silence them, including blogger Ra’if Badawi,” the newspaper said.