Saudi women demand women's rights from crown prince Abdullah
Saudi Arabia, Politics, 12/31/2003

The second session of the "national dialogue" continued deliberations in Mecca, where a group of Saudi women, most of them are university graduate called in a petition submitted to the crown prince Abdullah to found a higher council for women and to draw "special rules concerning the family in 'divorce cases.'"

A group of Saudi women demanded in a petition signed by more than 300 Saudi women, from various parts of the Kingdom, for 8 demands, mainly to "recognize woman as eligible, without the need to have the escort of the legal supervisor ( such as a father, husband or brother ), to be present in case a trade registration record is needed for a woman to start business."

The petition read that "the woman is in need to get her own legitimate and civil right, starting from her right to learn, work, and health care, but not to be conditioned on the permission of "the legal supervisor.. to her rights to transfer her property after her death to her inheritors under the rule of civil service on equal footing with man."

The women signatories of the petition, academics, intellectuals ,and employees from various parts of the Kingdom called for the system of "compulsory education for both boys and girls, and to open up new fields and specializations for the woman in universities, faculties and technical and technological faculties, as well as correcting the image of the woman in the educational programs and in audio-visual media."

The petition also called for opening the doors before women in government ministries and commissions, and to "appoint qualified women in leading posts and decision making centers, and to open work markets in all its fields without exception before those qualified for working." The women signatories in the petition "for permits to form civil society groups, trade unions, and cultural and scientific clubsÉ and encouraging women to join them." The women also demanded "to deal with Saudi women married to non-Saudis and their children on equal footing with Saudi men married to non-Saudi women."

The petition said that in order "in order to achieve these ambitions effectively, we suggest the foundation of a higher council for woman affairs" to deal with several issues of concern to women's general and private affairs.

Previous Stories:
  Launching second meeting for national dialogue in Saudi Arabia   (12/27/2003)
  Human rights committee waits for Saudi consent to launching it   (12/18/2003)
  Saudi women activists call for woman's right to citizenship   (11/4/2003)
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  Hanadi: first Saudi woman pilot, seeks to work in Saudi Arabia   (5/26/2003)
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