Saudi women ‘driving’ into marriage
Print Edition
Saudi salesman Majd had just begun his wedding preparations when his fiancee sought to enshrine in their marriage contract a condition already guaranteed by law — her right to drive.
Wedding contracts have long been a safety net for brides, used to guarantee demands that are often otherwise vulnerable to the whims of the husband or his family.
Such legally binding contracts typically codify anything from the woman’s right to have her own house, hire a maid, or to study or work.
But after the kingdom last year lifted a decades-long ban on female motorists, a popular new condition in the contracts is the right to own and drive a car, according to interviews with wedding clerics.
Majd, 29, who is due to marry this month in Dammam in eastern Saudi Arabia, signed off on two demands from his 21-year-old fiancee — the right to drive and to work after marriage.
“She said she (would) like to be independent,” explained Majd, who requested his last name be withheld.
“I replied: ‘Sure, why not’?”
Overturning the world’s only ban on women drivers is the most palpable social change, which is pursuing a liberalization drive.
To drive, women do not require the explicit approval of their male guardians — husbands, fathers and other male relatives, whose permission is needed by women to study, get married and even leave jail.
But it is unclear whether women have any legal recourse should their guardians prevent them from taking the wheel.
And many in the kingdom appear to be trapped in this troubling scenario.
“Some women prefer to include the driving condition in their contract to avoid any marital conflicts” over the issue, said Abdulmohsen al-Ajemi, a Riyadh wedding cleric who received his first such enquiry from the family of an engaged woman last week.
“It’s a way to guarantee the husband will keep his promise.” A breach of wedding conditions can be used by women as grounds for divorce, clerics say.
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