Saudi Arabian women were granted a rare legal concession on Tuesday when the country’s justice minister issued a directorate allowing them to sign and receive a copy of their prenuptial contract, a privilege previously only afforded to men in the Sunni Muslim kingdom.
The change will make it easier for women to prove the validity of their marriage in court, as well as receive inheritances in the event of their husband’s death. In addition, since Saudi husbands can indicate in their marriage contracts whether his widow will be allowed to work after he dies, new brides will also be able to confirm those decisions at the time of marriage.
The decision will “protect the rights of the woman and facilitate procedures for her,” according to the justice minister, who was quoted by a state news agency.
Whether the rule could be taken advantage of by currently married women could not be immediately ascertained.
In December, Saudi women gained the right to vote, though the country has only gone to the polls three times in its existence — to elect municipal leaders — and is firmly ruled by its royal family and a group of religious scholars. But the loosening of restrictions is a trend, albeit a very gradual one.
Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is third in line to become Saudi Arabia’s king, has indicated in interviews that some of the restrictions women face are the result of improper interpretations of the state’s hard-line ideology, called Wahhabism.
In a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg, the 30-year-old prince said he is trying to broaden the views of “those who distort the facts of the religious establishment so that women don’t get their complete rights granted them by Islam,” and that “American women had to wait long to get their right to vote. So we need time.”
Women in Saudi Arabia need a male chaperone to leave the house and are forbidden from engaging in “unlawful mixing” with men, which could involve having a conversation with a man to whom she is not related. Under the strict interpretations of Wahhabism, women cannot drive, wear immodest clothing or make-up, read uncensored magazines or even enter cemeteries.
(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Max Bearak
