Jan 09, 2019 05:30 am | Kevin<\/h4>\n
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Bloomberg reports<\/em><\/a> there has been yet another breakthrough for women\u2019s rights in Saudi Arabia, a country where women have long been second- or third-class citizens but were recently allowed to drive (with appropriate male supervision). As of last Sunday, a new regulation \u201cmake[s] it mandatory for a woman to be notified by text message when a court issues her husband\u2019s divorce decree.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Not when her husband files for divorce or when the court holds a hearing (if there is one). Only after the court issues the decree declaring that she and her husband are no longer married.<\/em><\/p>\n That<\/strong> is when she is entitled to get the text message.<\/em><\/p>\n Jurist\u00a0<\/em><\/a>explained the situation<\/a> this way:<\/p>\n [M]en in Saudi Arabia can obtain a divorce with a verbal statement verified in court [i.e.<\/em>, they just say it] while women must provide both a reason and evidence of abuse. This often led to a practice of \u201csecret divorce\u201d<\/strong> whereby men would divorce their wives but remain living with them [causing] their now ex-wives to miss out on alimony payments. In some cases this also led to men impersonating their wives or using previously valid powers of attorney in order to gain control of their ex-wives\u2019 finances.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n (Emphasis added.) Hence the now-required text message.<\/em><\/p>\n The Saudi Ministry of Justice said the step was \u201caimed at protecting the rights of female clients,\u201d but it\u2019s not clear to me how it could do that if the notice\u2014which, again, is a text message\u2014only goes out after the decree has been issued. And that does seem to be what will happen. As Bloomberg put it in a (not-very-helpful) subheading, \u201cMeasure ensures women know about marital status change,\u201d not that they will be able to do anything to affect what the decree looks like. Maybe there are post-divorce measures that can be taken, but a source quoted by Al Jazeera<\/a>\u00a0said that knowing about the divorce would not mean a woman would necessarily get alimony or custody of her children. But I guess if you don\u2019t even know you\u2019ve been divorced, the chances you would get those things is pretty much zero.<\/em><\/p>\n So, as\u00a0Suad Abu-Dayyeh of the group Equality Now put it, this may be a \u201ctiny step, but it is a step in the right direction.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIn most Arab countries,\u201d she said, \u201cmen can just divorce their wives.\u201d But now, \u201c[a]t least women will know whether they are divorced or not.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Assuming their husbands let them have cell phones, that is.<\/em><\/p>\n One report also said that the move \u201cis part of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman\u2019s Vision 2030 project for Saudi Arabia which seeks to reinvent Saudi Arabia as an open and inviting modern nation,\u201d one that may behead slightly fewer people than it does today, for example.<\/em><\/p>\n Yes, that’s the same Crown Prince who (allegedly) had Jamal Kashoggi murdered and dismembered. What a guy! And here’s another great civil rights move in Saudi Arabia (read this one very carefully, and this time it’s my bolding):<\/p>\n Sources report that in another groundbreaking reform, the families of people who are killed and dismembered after criticizing the Crown Prince will now be entitled to text messages informing them of their loved one\u2019s physical status change.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n OK, once again: Women, would you please get the fuck out of religion? It isn’t healthy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thanks to Kevin Underhill’s LoweringTheBar, I give you this bitter pill (you’ll chew your fingernails and scream before you swallow any pill — with a full glass of water) announcing a step forward in the rights of Saudi women. (Hm, … Continue reading