T O What Extent Can The Right Of Women In Saudi Arabia Be Justified?

Saudi Arabia, the largest country on the Arabian Peninsula at the western side of Asia, has many recurring conflicts dealing with human rights issues. Human rights in Saudi Arabia are based on Sharia religious laws under rule of the Saudi royal family. Many freedoms as described in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights do not exist in Saudi Arabia. It is commonly known that capital punishment and other penalties are often given to suspected criminals without due process. Unlike the law in the U.S, suspected criminals in Saudi are guilty until proven guilty. Saudi Arabia is one of a number of countries where courts continue to impose corporal punishment, including amputations of hands and feet for robbery, and lashings for lesser crimes such as "sexual deviance" and drunkenness. The number of lashes is not clearly prescribed by law and is varied according to the discretion of judges, and ranges from dozens of lashes to several thousand, usually applied over a period of weeks or months. In 2002, the United Nations Committee against Torture criticized Saudi Arabia over the amputations and floggings it carries out under its interpretation of Sharia. The government of Saudi Arabia has also been criticized for its oppression of religious and political minorities, torture of prisoners, and attitude toward foreign expatriates, homosexuality, and women. Saudi women face severe discrimination in many aspects of their lives, including education, employment, and the justice system and are clearly regarded as inferior to men.

The situation in Saudi Arabia concerning the second class treatment of women there is more than just gender violence example taking place in a highly developed twenty first century nation, but a scenario where we test philosophy over practice. Essentially the situation occurring in Saudi Arabia is similar to all examples of human rights violators, in a sense that you have a cause and effect equation allowing one to see from history how other nations, in particular western ones have had their share of input on determining whose to in power of Saudi Arabia plus what policies the ruling family can enforce as law or as barbarity. We as sympathetic society for the mistreatment of others can take a look at our countries’ moral obligations of the past and how responsible it was handling them. We can begin asking ourselves to what extent are we responsible for this happening, and who else shares the responsibility as to how the women of Saudi Arabia are able to be mistreated so horribly? We can examine this situation and see what foreign nations have done, have reacted to such atrocities committed by Saudi Arabia along with what political pressure foreign nations have had on the Saudi government. I proved the following roadmap to order what is going to be discussed in this paper, in these main areas of concentration : How Islamic law is scrutinized to enforce a brutal policy upon women in Saudi Arabia, examine the role of a woman in the past and across the globe. How foreign policy and how western nations mainly the U.S. have contributed to the current state, and lastly but the most pertinent; what are justifications for human rights and how are they exercised Saudi Arabia.

Starting off with the first, which was Islamic rule over every area of life in Saudi Arabia, the reader can get a feel as to what conditions these women are facing right now in Saudi Arabia. I researched how these women feel and their view towards the current Shari a government, a key prospective that is necessary to fully grasp the gravity of the topic and to satisfy the issue. I found a first hand account on the role of women in the Middle East. I found this excerpt from As’ ad AbuKhalil’s paper on “Women in the Middle East”. He introduces to the reader a glimpse of how society is ruled, and what a woman’s place is dictated. He makes this brief point about Islam in the Middle East; “Islamic clerics continue to enjoy a tremendous amount of power, and often exercise great influence in the field of education. The Middle East (including Israel) is unduly hostage to clerics, who do not allow the codification of civil personal status laws... Furthermore, Islam has sanctioned and perpetuated many sexist practices and views, including polygamy, the stigmatization of menstruation, the requirement of wifely obedience to the husband, and the inequality of inheritance and court appearancesвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚Ñœ In the wake of what has been going on in Saudi Arabia for over the past decade, there has been some attention called to this very issue, that women are treated a possession and not human beings, as are subject to this treatment because of religious law. It is undeniable that these women have been conditioned to so many duties and predetermined roles, that it not surprising as to how they feel towards their government. One couldn’t possibly imagine living, and serving in a life of complete submission. To be limited to only the live of someone else’s, the life predetermined and predicted by an authorial figure, is not a life at all. The Shari a government has undermined the very essence of being human, and being free, by setting up harsh and unimaginably cruel systems, in which to regulate human life. The true justification as to what extent women have rights in Saudi Arabia, should not be limited to only few rights under the government like, voting are the right to hold office, but more so to promote the general welfare of people. When one evaluates the women rights aspect of this equation, one can soon realize that the victim here is not only destitute, but powerless. Here in the U.S. for example, women have the right to vote, take an active role in governmental affairs, and even hold jobs. It is this liberty that should be granted to all men and not just men. The right and ability to pursue your own dreams and not the mandates of men should be witnessed by all men, as well as women. Now, to reach the point at which we can allow for these ideals to happen for women ( voting, government participation, etc) it took a few courageous women and a following of a million more women to change the patriarchal status quo, in favor for them to take charge and enjoy freedom and liberty to its’ fullest. Upon the U.S. entrance into the Second World War theatre, the majority of American men and boys joined the battle in Europe and the pacific, women back home were now the workforce and the government soon realized this. As a way getting war production to increase, the United States government created an ad campaign similar to the “uncle Sam” icon, to capitalize on the feelings and labor of women to increase the war effort. The following excerpt taken from a website www.teacheroz.com, best explains the situation, and the discriminations