Saudi women allowed to live alone without permission from male guardian

Authored by gulfnews.com and submitted by ajwadsabano

The Kingdom recently introduced a legal amendment allowing an adult and rational woman to live by herself in a separate house without permission from her father or male guardian. Image Credit: AFP

Dubai: Saudi Arabia has officially allowed single, divorced or widowed women to live independently in a house without permission from father or any other male guardian, the Makkah newspaper reported.

The landmark rule gives Saudi women the freedom to stay on their own in a separate accommodation without seeking approval from their male guardians.

The Kingdom recently introduced a legal amendment allowing an adult and rational woman to live by herself in a separate house without permission from her father or male guardianship.

Judicial authorities scrapped Paragraph B under article No. 169 of the “Law of Procedure before Sharia Courts” which states that an adult single, divorced, or widowed woman shall be handed over to her male guardian.

It was replaced with a new legal text stipulating that “An adult woman has the right to choose where to live. A woman’s guardian can report her only if he has evidence proving she committed a crime.”

The text also states “If a woman is sentenced to a jail term, she will not be handed over to her guardian after completing her term.”

“Families can no longer file lawsuits against their daughters who choose to live alone,” lawyer Naif Al Mansi said in an interview with the local paper.

He said courts will no longer accept such cases, which were given a priority earlier.

In July 2020, Saudi writer Mariam Al Otaibi, 32, won a historic ruling ending a three-year legal battle against her family, which sued her for living and traveling alone under the “absenteeism” law.

She was put on trial for living and travelling alone without her father’s permission. Mariam Al Otaibi won the battle after a court ruled that she had “the right to choose where to live.”

Saudi lawyer Abdul Rahman Al Lahem was Al Otaibi’s lawyer. He earlier said the court issued a historic decision that allows women to live independently. Al Lahem said it is not a crime for a woman to live separately on her own. He thanked the woman, his client, who defended her right, and got a decision in her favour despite being involved in the case since 2017.

In his ruling, the judge said Mariam Al Otaibi did not commit a crime by moving to Riyadh, the capital, against the wishes of her family. She was arrested in April 2017 after she fled her family home in Ar Rass, 400km northwest of Riyadh, complaining of abuse by her father and brothers.

In another incident a few months ago, a Saudi court rejected a case filed by a man against his wife in which he accused her of being absent from her family’s house.

4Lilith20 on June 11st, 2021 at 08:49 UTC »

We can live alone without their permission it’s not that what changed. The new law bans men from filing report on “missing person” on their kids female or male as long as they have an official registered address. It’s not the government we fight as feminists in Saudi Arabia it’s the patriarchy in Saudi Families that we fight. You should also know that men and women in Saudi Arabia continue living on their parents home until they move out as Married. It’s a cultural thing that no “singles” living alone.

That was part one,

Second Part is that females who get detained or arrested were not allowed to leave detention unless some male from her family would pick her up. Therefore no Saudi male would pick a shameful sister or daughter or even mother .. and female detention centers were full of females who had no reason to be detained other than males on her family refusing to get her back, they would rather kill her.

Well thats changed now and they can leave without waiting for family males to take them back.

I’ve been reading the replays and most men are like “ohh and we have women in US asking for rights”.

Habibi don’t take us as an excuse to not give females equal pay or whatever right they are fighting for.

SimilarOrdinary on June 11st, 2021 at 05:58 UTC »

Genuinely curious: What happens if you’re a woman with absolutely no connection to a living man whatsoever (and therefore no one who can grant you permission to do anything)?

bt123456789 on June 11st, 2021 at 02:39 UTC »

They still have a very long way to go but I'm actually glad to see some steps forward are being made.