Al-Jazirah THE most surprising and astonishing thing in dealing with women in our society is that we always put our customs and traditions before rules and regulations. May be most of us do not know that the approval of the male guardian is not required for women to join educational establishments to get educated. It is not necessary for women to get the consent of their male guardians to work in the government or the private sector. The approval of the male guardian in this case is never required under the law or the regulations. It is just a wrong interpretation by a number of men. Many men would not hesitate to make the lives of women extremely difficult by incorrectly believing that their approval is required for any move to be made by a Saudi woman. This erroneous belief was revoked by a recent royal decree issued by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman enabling women to complete all their office papers without the consent of their male guardians. The woman in our society today is not only a housewife but a businesswoman, a senior executive of companies and establishments and a head of a HR department....etc. It is not, therefore, reasonable or logical, to ask women in such positions to ensure the consent of their male guardians for any move they might want to take as it they are minors or irrationals. The royal decree has corrected many wrong beliefs and has put dots on the letters. It is a blanket-clear warning to all men who are still thinking of imposing their masculine attitude on women. A number of men in our society would like to make their coercion of women a law to which they should all abide by and respect. Some men are exploiting their positions and places in the family to make conditions on their women. This is not entirely required by the law or the system. It is just male chauvinism. The male approval is now only requested when a woman wants to travel outside but this is also being studied with a view to abolishing it. New rules may soon be issued to enable women to travel abroad without the need of the approval of their male guardians. The nation is developing fast with confidence toward the future. It will no longer stand hesitant or in a state of indecision. We will never look back. According to this royal decree, the Saudi women have regained all their rights to education, work and business. They will, therefore, participate on equal footing with men in the process of the nation-building. The women will join hands with men to push the nation forward to achieve the Kingdom's 2030 Vision. All this will be achieved by sincere work and honest competition to achieve development. It will also be accomplished by good mannerism which our great religion is advocating and under which we were brought up. We should not worry any more about the condition of women and we should all strive to empower and enable women gain all their God-given rights. We should also have confidence in their conduct and behavior. We should make the woman responsible first to herself and second to her family and society. It is only natural that women, like men, refer to their families in all the decisions they may want to take. This will not belittle her especially if the family is cohesive and loving. Women, in such cases, can not do without the advice of their families. We have taken great leaps during the past two years or the reign of King Salman on all the political and economic levels. It is only natural that we take the same quantitative steps on the social arena because it is strongly tied to the economic development. We all know that the issue of women in the Kingdom is complicated and intricate. It always stirs sensitivity because of our customs and traditions. This difficult issue will easily be solved when we empower women and regulate their rights to education, work, medical treatment and others. In this case we are sure to advance and develop.
