DAMMAM: The Family Solidarity Committee at the Eastern Province Emir's Office has helped two women whose guardians objected to them getting married to tie the knot through a local court last week. Ghazi Al-Shamri, chairman of the committee, told Al-Hayat Arabic daily that one of the women approached the committee one month ago to request that they look into her case. “We looked into all the details of her complaint and began to follow it up,” he said. “She got married about a week ago with a contract signed in court and witnessed by the committee after checking the suitability of the future husband for marriage and the woman's need for marriage, given that she was over 30 years of age.” He said the committee had met with the woman's family and persuaded them of the value of marriage “to ward against evils and avoid all that is haram, further oneself in society and use spare time usefully”. He said the same process was conducted in the case of the second woman, who was married last Wednesday. “We found no good reasons why her guardian should not agree to her getting married, and we were able to persuade her family,” Al-Shamri said. He said the committee only took on cases where the woman is 30 years of age or over, is in need of marriage, and where the prospective husband is “a suitable suitor in all respects, even in terms of customs and traditions”. “Not long ago a 20-year-old woman approached us asking to get married, but in this case we do not look into it because she is not unjustly being prevented from marriage. Some women also insist upon a certain man for marriage, and they also are not considered cases of being prevented from marrying.” Al-Shamri said the committee followed set procedures in its work, and noted that cases of women being prevented from marriage by their guardians had become a pressing concern in the bid to reduce the number of Saudi spinsters. “The committee works to change the social perception that women have no say in the matter,” he said. “The committee has in recent times helped to resolve a number of cases and family problems, including families on the verge of breaking up.” The Family Solidarity Committee looks at some 200 cases a year of women being prevented by their guardians from marriage, aside from instances of “Uqouq” – disobedience toward parents and other marriage issues.
