War on Women: Saudi men sent text messages when their women leave the country

In this year’s U.S. presidential election, single women under thirty were convinced that there was a war on women being waged by Republicans who had the gall to expect women should pay for their own contraceptives. Code Pink’s minions literally dressed as vaginas at the Republican National Convention to protest the suppression of women in the United States.

Meanwhile, halfway around the world…

Saudi women, clad in burkas, cannot leave their country without the men to which they belong being informed by authorities.

Via the Telegraph:

As of last week, Saudi women’s male guardians began receiving text messages on their phones informing them when women under their custody leave the country, even if they are travelling together.

Saudi women’s rights activist Manal al-Sherif, who last year urged women to defy a driving ban, said a man had contacted her to say he had received a text from the immigration authorities while at the airport with his wife.

“The authorities are using technology to monitor women,” said Saudi author and journalist Badriya al-Bishr, who criticised the “state of slavery under which women are held” in the kingdom.

“This is technology used to serve backwardness in order to keep women imprisoned,” she added.

Under laws influenced by the strict Wahabi interpretation of Islam, women are not allowed to leave Saudi Arabia without permission from their male guardian (a husband, father or brother), who must give consent by signing what is known as the “yellow sheet” at the airport or border.

No word yet on whether Code Pink is planning a dress-like-a-vagina-for-a-day protest in Saudi Arabia to show support for truly enslaved women.

h/t Jawa

print

, ,