Women in Saudi Arabia

Women in Saudi Arabia who walk unaccompanied, or are in the company of a man who is neither their husband nor a close relative, are at risk of arrest on suspicion of prostitution or other “moral” offences. Nieves, a Filipina who was working as a maid in Riyadh in 1992, was invited by a married couple to celebrate the wife’s birthday at a restaurant. She and a female friend decided to go. At the restaurant …

…applied in a discriminatory manner. The abuse of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia is not simply the unfortunate consequence of overzealous security forces and religious police. It is the inevitable result of a state policy which gives women fewer rights than men, which means that women face discrimination in all walks of life, and which allows men with authority to exercise their power without any fear of being held to account for their actions.