The best place to be a woman

In a week that has seen women in Saudi Arabia -- the only country in the world where women cannot drive -- continue their fight to break the taboo, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has published its annual Global Gender Gap Index.

So where is the best country to be a women? Iceland, for the fifth year running, has the world’s smallest gender gap.

The 397-page Index was introduced in 2006 as a framework for capturing the magnitude and scope of gender-based disparities and tracking their progress.

It benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, education and health criteria. It provides country rankings that allow for effective comparisons across regions and income groups and over time.

The rankings are designed to build among a global audience greater awareness of the challenges posed by gender gaps and the opportunities created by reducing them.

Iceland’s ranking means it is where women enjoy the most equivalent access to education and healthcare and where they are most likely to be able to participate fully in the country's political and economic life.

Iceland is joined at the top of the The Global Gender Gap Report, 2013 by its Nordic neighbors Finland, Norway and Sweden.

Overall, the gender gap narrowed slightly across the globe in 2013, as 86 of 133 countries showed improvements.

However, "change is definitely slow," says Saadia Zahidi, one of the report's authors.

From BBC News Online

In summing up the report, Zahidi tells BBC News Online Europe has seven countries in the top 10. The UK is 18th and the U.S. is 23rd.

The Philippines, at fifth, is the highest-ranking Asian nation and Nicaragua is the highest-placed country from the Americas, at 10th.

The G20 group of leading industrial nations has no representative in the top 10, nor does the Middle East or Africa.

Middle East and North Africa

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is where some of the greatest gender inequalities exist, the report says.

But the picture is far from uniform.

For instance, the Gulf states have tended to invest heavily in female education, with a reverse gender gap taking place in the United Arab Emirates. Many more women than men are now finishing university here. This contrasts with countries like Yemen, where levels of female education are very low.

MENA closed 59% of its overall gender gap in 2013. Compared to 2006, the region shows a very slight improvement, despite the fact that the Middle East region witnessed a fall in its overall score compared to last year.

The region ranks the lowest on the Economic Participation and Opportunity and Political Empowerment sub-indexes with, respectively, only 39% and 7% of the gender gap being closed.

From BBC News Online

Thirteen of the 20 lowest performing countries on the Labor force participation indicator are from the region as are 11 of the lowest on the Estimated earned income indicator. Seven of the lowest countries on the Political Empowerment sub-index are also from MENA.

The highest-ranking economies of the region have made vast investments in increasing women’s education levels in the last decades.

In Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Algeria, Oman, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, the tertiary education enrolment rates for women are higher than those of men. However, these countries have had varying degrees of success at integrating women into the economy and in decision-making in order to reap the benefits of this investment. Six out of the 10 high-income countries that rank the lowest on the overall Index are from the region.

The UAE (109) continues to hold the top position among the Arab countries and is the only country from the region that has fully closed the educational attainment gap.

However, it falls two places in the overall ranking this year because of a decrease on the Wage equality for similar work and in the Estimated earned income indicators.

From the Global Gender Gap Index report

The UAE ranks sixth on the Literacy rate indicator and seventh on the Enrolment in primary education indicator.

The UAE is followed by Bahrain (112), Qatar (115), Kuwait (116) and Jordan (119).

Qatar maintains the same overall ranking as last year although there has been a small improvement in the overall score. Qatar ranks the highest of the region on the Estimated earned income indicator but the lowest of the region on the Healthy life expectancy indicator.

Kuwait falls seven spots this year because of losses in the Labor force participation, Wage equality for similar work and Estimated earned income indicators.

Jordan moves up two places. Its improvements are driven by gains in the Educational Attainment and Political Empowerment sub-indexes.

Next are Oman (122), Lebanon (123) and Algeria (124).

Oman ascends three places relative to its 125th position in the 2012 ranking thanks to gains on the Economic Participation and Opportunity and Educational Attainment sub-indexes. Oman obtains the best score from the region on the Wage equality for similar work indicator.

From the Global Gender Gap Index report

Lebanon moves down one place this year. Lebanon is one of the two regional countries that has fully closed its heath and survival gender gap.

Women’s Education

Some countries that have made the key investments in women’s education but have generally not removed barriers to women’s participation in the workforce and are thus not seeing returns on their investments in the development of one half of their human capital.

This group includes Japan, the UAE and Brazil. They have an untapped but educated talent pool and would have much to gain through women’s greater participation in the workforce.

A report by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Countries found that restricting job opportunities for women is costing the region between $42 and $46 billion a year.

Research by the World Bank demonstrates that similar restrictions have also imposed massive costs throughout the Middle East, where decades of substantial investment have dramatically reduced the gender gap in education but the gender gap in economic opportunity remains the widest in the world.

Gender equality vs. women’s empowerment

The third distinguishing feature of the Global Gender Gap Index is that it ranks countries according to their proximity to gender equality rather than to women’s empowerment.

Its focus is on whether the gap between women and men in the chosen indicators has declined, rather than whether women are “winning” the “battle of the sexes.”

Hence, the Index rewards countries that reach the point where outcomes for women equal those for men, but it neither rewards nor penalizes cases in which women are outperforming men in particular indicators.

So, are we all moving to Iceland? Probably not just yet…

A honk in support of Saudi women drivers

The October 26th Women Driving Campaign that was due to hold a drive-in today in Saudi Arabia to try and end the ban against women driving in the Kingdom, has been dropped after threats of legal actions against anyone getting behind the wheel.

However, the ongoing battle Saudi women are waging for their right to drive, though no specific law bans such a right, continues with a call for an open-ended campaign.

“Out of caution and respect for the Saudi Interior Ministry’s warnings… we are asking women not to drive and on October 26 and to change the initiative from an October 26 campaign to an open driving campaign, activist Najla Al Hariri told AFP.

Women in Saudi Arabia have been attempting to get the driving ban lifted since 1990, when around 40 women drove their cars down a main street in Riyadh. They were stopped by police and a number of them were suspended from work. The women were widely condemned in religious sermons and social circles. The then Grand Mufti, the kingdom’s highest religious authority, also issued a fatwa against women driving followed by a formal directive by the Minister of Interior banning women from driving.

In 2011, women activists re-launched an Internet campaign calling on women with international driver licenses to take to the roads in defiance of the ban. Scores of women got behind the wheel to support the campaign.

Some were arrested as a result and were made to sign pledges that they would refrain from driving in future.

In September 2011, one female driver was tried and sentenced to 10 lashes. Her sentence was eventually overturned in April 2012.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive. Although there is no official law, a ministerial decree in 1990 formalized an existing de facto ban and women who attempt to drive face arrest. Women cannot be issued driving licenses either.

Religious objections took a knock when, for example, one leading Saudi cleric warned women who drive cars could cause damage to their ovaries and pelvises and were at risk of having children born with “clinical problems.”

But two weeks ago – specifically on October 10 – the October 26th Women Driving Campaign got a spectacular shot in the arm from the kingdom’s most prominent media figure Abdul-Rahman al-Rashed, who is the general manager of Saudi-owned Alarabiya TV news channel.

Writing for the kingdom’s newspaper of records Asharq Alawsat, Rashed opined: “The novelty is not to grant women the right to sit behind the wheel. The newness is that the request to uphold this right was made by three Saudi women members of the Shura Council…

“Whether the government listens to their recommendation or not, the issue of women driving has become a major one involving Saudi public opinion. To avoid upholding women’s right to drive is costly for everyone, both economically and politically.

“Don’t forget, the ban does not hold water anymore. The government sends tens of thousands of female students to major universities abroad, including Harvard and Cambridge, then prevents them from driving in their home country.”

Personally, I cannot imagine being forbidden to drive.

I may choose not to drive, as I did during my 20 years living in London. It was a purely financial decision. The cost of petrol, the congestion charge and parking costs alone would have eaten up my salary. Plus, public transport was often quicker. But I still had my driving license with me at all times, just in case.

I still remember the feeling -- at 18 -- of getting my driving license and then my first car (a red mini that broke down two days later and had to be returned). Pure bliss!

And one of the first things I did on arriving in Dubai seven years ago was own a car.

The Saudi Interior Ministry of Interior on Wednesday warned organizers of the October 26th Women Driving Campaign, whose site has been hacked, that group gatherings and marches are illegal.

Officials also warned the Kingdom’s strict codes against political dissent on the Internet will be applied to anyone offering online support for a planned protest by women challenging the male-only driving rules.

One Saudi woman who is part of the campaign explains the situation in a post on LiveWire, Amnesty International’s human rights blog.

Under the title “Society’ is no longer an excuse for Saudi Arabia’s ban on women driving,” Eman Al Nafjan (@Saudiwoman) -- who was arrested by police on October 10 in Riyadh while filming another woman as she was driving and breaking the ban -- writes:

If there was one word to describe what it is like to be a Saudi woman, it would be the word patronizing. No matter how long you live, you remain a minor in the eyes of the government.

In Saudi Arabia we take patriarchy to the extreme. The fact that the culture, like many others around the world, is male-dominated is not the major challenge. The real challenge is that the government has allowed this patriarchy to dictate how it deals with citizens. Female citizens are assigned a legal male guardian from her immediate relatives. This male guardian can legally marry her off as a child to a man decades her senior. He can also legally and easily ban her from education, work and marriage. He has to pre-approve any international travel officially. Since basic education is free and college education comes with a stipend paid by the government to all public college students, most male guardians prefer to send their daughters to school. Yet in those cases where the male guardian chooses to imprison his female ward at home, the legal system makes it almost impossible for her to be able to get away.

The de facto ban on women driving is one of the main things that perpetuates this governmental patriarchy. Currently there is no public transportation system available. You cannot walk to the corner and catch a bus or take the subway except in Mecca. Thus for any woman to get from point A to point B, she doesn’t only have to buy a car but convince a male relative or employ a man from Southeast Asia to drive that car. This day-to-day obstacle has proven to be a demoralizing deterrent for many women from pursuing an education, a career and even maintaining their own healthcare.

When government officials are asked about the driving ban, they respond that there is no legal or Islamic basis for it and that it is only socially maintained. The King himself stated so. Others who have made similar statements include the Minister of Justice, the Head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, and the Chief of Traffic Police. Yet when a woman gets behind the wheel of her car, it isn’t society that stops her but the police. In many cases the woman is then taken to the nearest police station and her male guardian is called. The woman and her guardian are both made to sign pledges to ensure that this case of driving while female is not repeated.

There have been several attempts since 1990 to try to lift this ban on women driving. Among them were proposals sent to the Shura Council by Dr Mohammad Al Zulfa in 2006 and another by Abdullah Al Alami in 2012. Both were not even allowed to be discussed on the floor of the council. There have also been several petitions and requests sent to the Royal Court, which mostly failed to get a response. There were also campaigns to get women just to go out and drive. And they too were met with more of a response from the government than from society.

"[Saudi] Officials can no longer use the 'society' excuse"

In 1990, 47 women got into their cars and drove and the government responded with job suspensions and travel bans. In June 2011, Manal Al Sharif made a Youtube video asking women to join her in driving their own cars and was imprisoned for over a week for it.

Thus the October 26th Women Driving Campaign is the most recent campaign to try to resolve the women driving ban. What makes this campaign special is that it’s the first real civil movement to occur in Saudi Arabia. There is no face to the movement. The petition was written by more than 30 people, many of whom do not know each other.

The first couple of days the petition went public, we were still accepting revisions to the text. It was only finalized on the third day. Everyone who signs the petition is considered not only an organizer but a leader who can take the initiative to act in the name of the campaign. The campaign itself has Youtube channels and an Instagram account for signatories to upload their driving videos, photos and even just to talk or make a statement through art. Through these means, the campaign aims not only to call on the government to quit its ambiguity regarding the ban but also to demonstrate that officials can no longer use the “society” excuse.

Ian Black, The Guardian’s Middle East editor, writes in an article published Friday that “three female members of the Shura [advisory] Council -- among 30 who were appointed in January by the 90-year-old King Abdullah -- recommended this month that the ban be rescinded, though no debate has yet taken place. Latifa al-Shaalan, Haya al-Mani and Muna al-Mashit urged the council to ‘recognize the rights of women to drive a car in accordance with the principles of sharia [Islamic law] and traffic laws.’

“The three -- praised by supporters for ‘stirring the stagnant water’ -- framed their argument with careful references to fatwas (religious edicts) banning women from being in the company of an unrelated male (such as a driver). Other suggestions designed to reassure critics are appointing female traffic police and driving instructors. Cost is another big factor with families having to employ chauffeurs, as is convenience.”

But Black notes: “Signs of powerful opposition, however, are still easy to detect. This week 150 clerics and religious scholars held a rare public protest outside King Abdullah's palace in Jeddah to object to ‘westernization’ and ‘the conspiracy of women driving,’ blaming the U.S. -- a byword in traditionalist circles for anything distasteful or immoral -- for being behind the campaign.”

A female Saudi activist to Amnesty International

Amnesty International says it is “astonishing that in the 21st century, Saudi authorities continue to deny women the right to legally drive a car.

“The driving ban is inherently discriminatory and demeaning to women and must be overturned immediately. It is completely unacceptable for the authorities to stand in the way of activists planning to campaign against it,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Director of the Middle East and North Africa Program.

“Instead of repressing the initiative, the authorities must immediately lift the ban to ensure that women are never again arrested or punished simply for being behind the wheel of a car.”

Amnesty adds: “At present women in Saudi Arabia are dependent on men to carry out simple daily tasks requiring transport. Lifting the ban would allow women to drive to work or university and enable mothers to take their children to schools.”

Referring to today’s actions, Eman Al Nafjan is quoted by AFP as saying, “the date was only symbolic, and women have begun driving before and will continue to drive after October 26.”

I will be thinking of the many Saudi women trying to break the ban, today or on any other day, as I get into my car to go to work.

Good luck ladies. You will win!

Much prayers on Eid al-Adha

Spotted at the Coop, Safa Park:  Ready for Eid al-Adha or Feast of the Sacrifice

More than 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide will today celebrate Eid al-Adha at the end of Hajj.

It is a time of celebration, but also one to think of those less fortunate.

My prayers and thoughts go to a dear friend who is battling sickness. They are also with those not celebrating due to illness, war and poverty.

I wrote extensively about Eid al-Adha in a post two years ago, but here again is what Hajj and Eid al-Adha is all about for those new to Mich Café and to the customs of the region.

Literally, Hajj means “to set out for a place." For Muslims, that place is the Holy City of Mecca, in Saudi Arabia.

Muslims worldwide celebrate Eid al-Adha to commemorate the willingness of Abraham (Ibrahim) to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to God, before God intervened to provide him with a ram to sacrifice instead. Hence the sacrifice of a lamb, a goat, a cow or a camel on Eid al-Adha.

The sacrificial meat is divided into three parts: one-third for the family; another third for relatives, friends and neighbors; and the remaining third to the poor and needy.

Eid al-Adha is celebrated annually on the 10th day of the 12th and last Muslim month of Dhu al-Hijjah of the lunar Islamic calendar. Celebrations start after the Hajj, when Muslims descend from Mount Arafat.

Pilgrims at Mount Arafat (Photo via Saudi Ministry of Hajj)

Mount Arafat, about 70 meters high, is a granite hill to the east of Mecca. It was on Mount Arafat that Adam and Eve, separated for 200 years following their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, recognized each other and were reunited. There too God forgave them for their transgression. It is where pilgrims must spend an afternoon in a state of Ihram.

It is professed that when Abraham was ready to return to Canaan he was to leave behind his wife Hajar and baby son. Hajar asked him, “Did God order you to leave us here? Or are you leaving us here to die.” Abraham was so sad he fell silent but pointed to the sky. Hajar said, “Then God will not waste us; you can go.”

The Zamzam Well

Soon Hajar's meager provisions of dates and water ran out and both mother and child became thirsty. Hajar was desperate to find water. She ran up and down between two hills -- Al-Safa and Al-Marwah -- seven times in her desperate quest. Exhausted, she finally collapsed beside her baby and prayed to God for deliverance. Miraculously, a spring of water gushed forth from the earth at the feet of baby Ishmael. With this secure water supply, known as the Zamzam Well, they were not only able to provide for their own needs, but were also able to trade water with passing nomads in exchange for food and supplies.

Years later, Abraham was instructed by God to return from Canaan to build a place of worship adjacent to Hajar's well. Abraham and Ishmael constructed a stone and mortar structure -- known as the Kaaba. It was to be the gathering place for all who wished to strengthen their faith in God.

One of the main trials of Abraham's life, at 99, was to fulfill God’s command to devote his dearest possession, his then only son Ishmael, 13. Upon hearing this command, he prepared to submit to God's will. During this preparation, Satan tried to dissuade Abraham and his family from carrying out God's commandment, but they drove Satan away by throwing pebbles at him. In commemoration of their rejection of Satan, stones are thrown at symbolic pillars signifying Satan during the Hajj rites.

As a reward for this sacrifice, God then granted Abraham the good news of the birth of his second son, Isaac: “And We gave him the good news of Ishaaq, a prophet from among the righteous.”

Muslims commemorate Abraham’s ultimate act of sacrifice during Eid al-Adha.

Ishmael married the daughter of the chief of the Banu Jurhum, a tribe that had settled in the Mecca valley. When Ibrahim died, Ishmael continued to perform Hajj each year and to look after the Kaaba.

Pilgrims circumbulating the Kaaba (Saudi Ministry of Hajj)

After Ishmael, the Kaaba came into the possession of the Banu Jurhum tribe for many centuries until the Khuza'ah tribe took it over. Throughout this period, the Kaaba was vulnerable to flooding and was virtually destroyed.

Seeing the Kaaba in a state of disrepair, Qusay bin Kilaab, of the Quraysh tribe, rebuilt it, according to the original design but adding a roof to protect it from the extremes of weather. Qusay, born around 400 CE, was renowned for his wisdom.

The starting point for the circumambulation of the Holy Kaaba is where Abraham placed the Black Stone in the eastern corner. The Black Stone (al-Hajar al-Aswad) was brought from Paradise by Archangel Gabriel and was set into one corner of the Kaaba.

In the course of their Hajj, pilgrims will kiss or touch the Black Stone because the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) kissed it. On the roof of the Kaaba is a gilded waterspout (al-Masabb) protruding from the northwestern wall.

The station of Abraham or Maqam Ibrahim (Saudi Ministry of Hajj)

To complete the upper part of the Kaaba walls, Abraham stood on a large stone block, which he moved along when each section was completed. When the Kaaba was finished, the large stone block was left outside, close to the eastern wall of the sanctuary. It became known as the Maqam Ibrahim (the station of Abraham).

Nearly opposite the Black Stone, near the Maqam Ibrahim, is the Zamzam Well.

The Kaaba, is a large stone structure constituting a single room with a marble floor. It lies at the heart of the Holy Mosque (al-Masjid al-Haram). It stands some 60 feet high and each side is approximately 60 feet in length. The four walls of the Kaaba are covered with a black drape that is 45x135 feet -- the Kiswah.

Every year, a new Kiswah is prepared, embroidered in gold thread with the Shahadah and verses from Qur'an and carried to Mecca by pilgrims. A recent estimate of producing the Kiswah each year put the cost at about $4.5 million. During the Hajj, the black Kiswah is replaced by a white cloth, matching the white robes of the pilgrims. At the end of Hajj, the newly woven Kiswah is placed over the Kaaba. The old one is cut into small pieces and given to pilgrims from different Muslim countries.

I wish all my readers celebrating the occasion a happy, healthy and blessed Eid al-Adha.

Plea to Saudi King Abdullah: Let us drive

The first thing I did on my 18th birthday was register for driving lessons. I got my driving license a month later -- and it was a milestone. I did it not as a female, but as a person. It was the natural thing to do.

Many years since teens, I still feel a thrill getting into my car.

It is with this feeling that I wholly support the right of Saudi women to drive. It is in solidarity and sympathy with a right that seems so natural for women around the world, especially now that I live in the UAE, another Gulf country.

A year ago, on June 17, 2011, about 40 Saudi women took to the wheel in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam in a landmark defiance of the ban forbidding them to drive. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the word to ban women from driving.

A month earlier, seven women were arrested for driving. Manal al-Sharif, who had posted a video on the Internet of herself at the wheel, was held for 10 days. She was made to sign a pledge not to drive again and banned from talking to the media. Last month, Ms Sharif was awarded the prestigious Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent at the 2012 Oslo Freedom Forum.

Since then, a Women2Drive campaign was created and has issued a plea to Saudi King Abdullah to lift the ban on women driving in the kingdom.

The English text of the petition was published on June 11, 2012, on Eman Fahad Al Nafjan’s Saudiwoman’s Weblog. Ms Nafjan, who herself drove around her neighborhood last year, wrote last June: “In an interview on a weekly discussion show, Suad Al Shammari, a leading Saudi women rights activist presented the following statistics: only 45,000 Saudi women have licenses which they can only acquire from abroad, 40% of cars purchased in Saudi are purchased by women and that there are currently over a 1.2 million foreign men brought into this country for the sole purpose of driving our cars instead of the women owners. FYI the Saudi population is 27,140,000 a third of which are foreign workers.”

The following is the post by Ms Nafjan and the petition, which is aiming for 100,000 signatures:

My Right to Dignity has published an open petition addressed to the King on the occasion of one year since the beginning of the June 17 [2011] women driving movement. The petition renews the request to lift the ban. You can sign it by going HERE. Below is a translation:

To His Majesty, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, may God save and bless him.

Peace and God’s mercy and blessing be upon you,

We address Your Majesty with thankfulness and gratitude for the utmost care that you have granted to Saudi women issues and the progressive steps that you have taken to involve women in the national development projects. These steps that you summarized in your historical speech on September 25th 2011 when you said, “We will not approve the marginalization of women.” This was followed by the two decrees concerning women membership on the Shura Council and women participation in the municipal elections.

With the rise in the number of Saudi women granted the King Abdullah international scholarship to 27,500 recipients, many of them have returned hopeful to take part in building this nation side-by-side with their brothers. Due to your advocacy towards opening more fields to women and the implementation of your wise decree this past January to allow women to work in retail, more than 300,000 job opportunities for women have been created and billions of our immigrating riyals have been nationalized.

Thus it is our hope that you take into consideration our campaign I Will Drive My Own Car to encourage women who have obtained driving licenses from neighboring countries to forgo their male drivers and start driving themselves when they need to. This encouragement is nothing more than the practice of a right ensured to us by all religions and national and international law. A right that has been denied us by some customs and traditions that are not of God. We also hope that you advocate the opening of women driving schools and the issuance of driving licenses to women who qualify.

This campaign does not seek to disrupt the government or to violate any national laws or regulations. Here it is important to point out that there is no explicit law banning women from driving. We are not in cooperation with any foreign organizations or bodies nor do we represent a political party or opposition. We do not intend to start a public protest. We merely request that any woman who needs to go about her daily business and does not have a man to help her be allowed to help herself. We want this right to be an option for those who want or need to. As King Faisal (God rest his soul) historically said when he decreed girls’ education, “No one will be forced nor will anyone be turned away.”

Open petition to King Abdullah: "Let us drive"

Our Precious King, we trust in Your Majesty and our guardians but we are trying as adult capable women to do everything in our power for the betterment of our families and society. We seek to facilitate the affairs of our lives and the lives of our families while maintaining respect and loyalty to the values of our gracious nation and to the principles of our faith. We are optimistic that our campaign will succeed, as did other campaigns and projects such as ARAMCO, KAUST and women in rural areas.

Our initiative comes as an inevitable result of the failure of ongoing initiatives that began more than 30 years and have included directly appealing to officials, writing in the media, and sending petitions and demands to the members of the Shura Council. These have all had no real results on the ground. Our hope is now hanging on the generosity of your response and support for this campaign. We hope that Your Majesty will instruct all those who have in their capacity to support us to do so, such as the regional princes, the police and the Commission for Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue. We hope that you will command them to enable women who have valid licenses to drive their own cars when running their basic daily errands and thus lift the financial and social burden on some families that has lasted far too long.

We hope that Your Majesty would hasten the enactment of laws and regulations that criminalize and punish those that harm or harass women drivers. In this the government could gain from the experience of the other GCC countries. We also hope that Your Majesty will hasten the establishment of driving schools and the issuance of licenses for women. Until then, we raise to your Royal Court a number of urgent demands from those who have been gravely affected by the women-driving ban. These demands are that these families and women be compensated by waiving the Saudi entrance visa fee for migrant drivers and be granted by the government a monthly stipend equaling the amount it takes to employ, board and feed a driver. Another demand is that the salary transportation allowance be increased for women to three times what men are paid. The final demand is that government ministries and institutions and private employers be required to provide their female employees the option of safe institutional transportation.

We are still in great anticipation and hope that public transportation projects will see the light of day soon.

Your Majesty is well aware that the simple yet essentially important request to allow women to drive is practiced easily by all women in the world. Hence lifting the driving ban should not be difficult here in the country of security and safety and under your wise leadership. With sincere efforts we are confident that our wise leadership will realize the ban lift in our compassionate and gracious nation for the benefit of our sons and daughters.

We pray that Your Majesty will remain our pride, strength and empowerment and that God grant you and the nation perseverance and blessedness.

Date of petition 20 Rajab 1433, corresponding to June 10, 2012 

How many more Child Brides must die?

A Saudi Child Bride

A child is a child, is a child! Children should be loved, cherished, protected and educated.

Yet, last month, another Child Bride in Yemen bled to death on her wedding night. The 13-year-old’s uterus was torn during intercourse with her 30-year-old husband.

Local rights group Save the Children said the tragedy underscored the need for the state to issue a legal age limit for marriage and to begin a national awareness campaign. The husband rejected all liability, blaming the tragedy on his late wife's "poor health and refusal to be considerate to his needs."

Save the Children activists warned against Yemen's new trend of marrying off daughters too early, saying "abject poverty and a lack of education" were to blame.

Support Yemen, a non-profit independent campaign to establish a democratic civic state in Yemen where “the constitution gives people freedom, equality and social justice to every citizen,” is also fighting to preserve the childhood of little girls.

The group composed of young female and male activists, journalists, videographers, photographers, web designer and bloggers have released a video (above) asking:

“How much innocence of little girls’ childhood must fade away? How many mothers must die due to inadequate healthcare? How much illiteracy must develop before education becomes free and mandatory? How many victims must suffer before a law criminalizing domestic violence is issued? How many revolutions do women need participate in so that they find place in the government and parliament?

“Women's rights are part of human rights... I will fight for my rights and break the silence...”

While there are great efforts to tackle the issue of “child marriage,” it is still a common practice in many countries worldwide.

A recent article in Dubai’s Gulf News notes the UAE is at the forefront in tackling this issue and the minimum age for marriage has been set at 18. Permission to marry at a younger age is needed from a judge who must seek approval from the Ruler’s Court.

The minimum age in the UAE is higher than in Kuwait and Bahrain, which is set at 16. Yemen in 1999 eliminated the age limit altogether. Attempts by MPs to re-instate it in 2009, coupled with protests on the streets and campaigns by Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkul Karman, have not succeeded.

Application of this policy in the UAE led to a significant decrease in early marriages. Gulf News says the percentage of young women married between 15 and 19 years of age dropped from 57 percent in 1975 to an astonishing eight percent in 1995.

UNICEF map

Child marriage is a worldwide problem but is most prevalent in Africa and Southern Asia. Although its practice has decreased somewhat in recent decades, it remains common in rural and some other areas and among the most poverty stricken, according to the map released by UNICEF.

On “child marriage,” UNICEF says: “The right to free and full consent to a marriage is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) with the recognition that consent cannot be ‘free and full’ when one of the parties involved is not sufficiently mature to make an informed decision about a life partner.

The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979) states that the betrothal and marriage of a child shall have no legal effect and all necessary action, including legislation, shall be taken to specify a minimum age of marriage. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women recommends this age to be 18.”

An Afghan Child Bride

Child marriage is a violation of human rights, whether it happens to a girl or a boy, but it represents perhaps the most prevalent form of sexual abuse and exploitation of girls. The harmful consequences include separation from family and friends, lack of freedom to interact with peers and participate in community activities, and reduced education opportunities. Child marriage can also result in bonded labor or enslavement, commercial sexual exploitation and violence against the victims.

Because they cannot abstain from sex or insist on condom use, Child Brides are often exposed to such serious health risks as premature pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and, increasingly, HIV/AIDS.

UNICEF facts and figures

1. Globally, 36 per cent of women aged 20-24 were married or in union before they reached 18 years of age. (This figure does not include China. Unless otherwise indicated, figures are from United Nations Children’s Fund, The State of the World’s Children 2006, UNICEF, New York, 2005, p. 131.)
2. An estimated 14 million adolescents between 15 and 19 give birth each year. Girls in this age group are twice as likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth as women in their twenties. (United Nations Population Fund, State of World Population 2005: The Promise of Equality: Gender Equity, Reproductive Health and the Millennium Development Goals, UNFPA, New York, 2005, p. 50.)
3. Marriage of young girls is most common in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In Niger, 77 percent of 20- to 24-year-old women were married before the age of 18. In Bangladesh, this rate was 65 percent.

Child Brides in Yemen

UNICEF says the role of government and civil-society institutions is to develop and implement systems to prevent or discourage this practice. Because child marriage is closely associated with poverty, government commitment to poverty reduction is likely to lead to a decrease in child marriages.

Governments also need to establish 18 as the legal age of marriage for girls, as well as boys, and ensure the rule is upheld. Addressing attitudes and customs that promote or condone the practice is vital to changing the acceptable age for marriage.

Education

As always, education is the magic world. Expanding children’s knowledge and empowerment is crucial, particularly for girls. Educated girls are less likely to agree to marry at a young age. Attempts to close gender gaps in education can include the establishment of child-friendly schools, cash incentives for parents and the expansion of non-formal education.

One way UNICEF is addressing the issue of child marriage is through the promotion of girls’ education. Research shows that higher levels of education for girls prevent child marriage. (United Nations Children’s Fund, Early Marriage: A harmful traditional practice: A statistical exploration, UNICEF, New York, 2005, pp. 12-13.) UNICEF is the lead agency for the UN Girls’ Education Initiative, which works to ensure that by 2015, all children everywhere will be able to complete primary schooling.

Consequences

FORWARD, the Foundation for Women's Health, Research and Development -- an African Diaspora women's campaign and UK-registered support charity established in 1983 -- says there are numerous detrimental consequences associated with child marriage, with physical, developmental, psychological and social implications.

FORWARD notes Child Brides are likely to become pregnant at an early age and there is a strong correlation between the age of a mother and maternal mortality. Girls aged 10-14 are five times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than women aged 20-24. Girls aged 15-19 are twice as likely to die. Young mothers face higher risks during pregnancies including complications such as heavy bleeding, fistula, infection, anemia and eclampsia which contribute to higher mortality rates of both mother and child. At a young age a girl has not developed fully and her body may strain under the effort of childbirth, which can result in obstructed labor and obstetric fistula. Obstetric fistula can also be caused by the early sexual relations associated with child marriage, which take place sometimes even before menarche.

There is also a clear link between Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and child and early marriages. Communities that practice FGM are also more likely to practice child marriages. In some FGM-practicing communities, FGM is carried out at puberty and then marriages are arranged immediately afterwards. It is also common in FGM-practicing communities for a man to refuse to marry a girl or woman who has not undergone FGM, or to demand that FGM is carried out before marriage.

According to a 2008 study by the Gender Development Research and Studies Center in Sanaa, just over half of the girls are married before their 18th birthday -- some as young as eight. Admittedly, the problem is not unique to Yemen. In April 2012, Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh suggested girls can be married by age 10-12.

As with all change, child marriages may take generations and decades to eliminate completely. It is certainly through education, awareness and enlightened government. Each Child Bride death is one too many…