Alwaght- Saudi women initiated a Twitter campaign to seek equal rights in the highly discriminative legal system in the country.
Tens of thousands of women joined a campaign supported by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) to protest discrimination against their rights.
The watchdog had previously reported about severe restrictions on women rights in its July report and condemned the so-called male guardianship as “the most significant impediment to realizing women’s rights in the country, effectively rendering adult women legal minors who cannot make key decisions for themselves”.
"In Saudi Arabia, a woman's life is controlled by a man from birth until death. Every Saudi woman must have a male guardian, normally a father or husband, but in some cases a brother or even a son, who has the power to make a range of critical decisions on her behalf," HRW reported.
Pointing to limitations like a ban on house rental or travel without a male companion, the report says Saudi women are not even allowed to participate in classes or file legal claims on their own.
“The impact these restrictive policies have on a woman's ability to pursue a career or make life decisions varies, but is largely dependent on the goodwill of her male guardian. In some cases, men use the authority that the male guardianship system grants them to extort female dependents. Guardians have conditioned their consent for women to work or to travel on her paying him large sums of money," the report said.
After interviewing 61 women to document their life experiences on videos posted to social media, the HRW initiated a twitter campaign under the hashtag of #TogetherToEndMaleGuardianship, largely followed by Saudi women, to protest discrimination and document more female experiences on the issue.
The hashtag has received about 200 thousands twits in English and Arabic.
