The proposed law governing the marriage of Saudi nationals to foreigners was recently transferred by the Shoura Council to a special committee for further study. Shoura member Sadaqa Fadel told Saudi Gazette that the council needs to restudy the issue in order to be able to make decisions. ”It is a complicated issue with humanitarian implications that will affect a large number of people,” Fadel said. Public opinion regarding Saudi women marrying non-Saudis is widely split between those who completely agree and those who disagree, with some people supporting the proposition under certain circumstances and conditions. Opinion also seems to be related to age, with those in the younger generation more in favor of permitting Saudi women to marry whomever they choose. Some young Saudi women, for example, see no problem involved in marrying a non-Saudi man as long as the women and their children are guaranteed all of their rights. Fatima Al-Ghamdi, a Master's degree student at King Abdulaziz University, said that getting married to a non-Saudi is not a shame “although we live in a strict society which rejects this kind of marriage at present, things change and nothing is permanent”. A girl should chose the man who is right for her whether he is Saudi or not, and if he is non-Saudi, she should be given all of her rights and her children should be recognized as residents of the Kingdom,” Al-Ghamdi said. Some parents agree to allow their daughters to marry non-Saudis in special cases and with certain conditions. Aysha Abdul Ghani, the mother of two girls, feels that there is nothing wrong with middle-aged women marrying non-Saudis as long as they are good men who are not entering into the marriage for mere financial benefit. “In our society a woman's chance of marriage diminishes after she reaches a certain age, so it is unfair to prevent her from marrying just because of the nationality of the man whom she wants to marry. At the same time, the number of Saudi men who marry non-Saudi women is increasing and their wives and children have all of their rights,” Abdul Ghani said. “Also a number of Saudi men now travel abroad to get married temporarily just for the summer season which is not right, while our young women are interested in entering into permanent marriages,” she said. She added that certain conditions should apply in the case of a non-Saudi man who wants to marry a Saudi woman, such as “he should have been born in the Kingdom or have lived here for a long time so that he is fully adapted to our culture”. On the other hand, there are many families who completely refuse to allow their daughter to marry a non-Saudi because of the problems that the young woman might face. Alan Mansour said that she and her parents were in complete agreement in refusing a non-Saudi who asked for her hand in marriage. “My parents and I rejected him because he and I could not live in harmony as husband and wife since we Saudis have our own different culture, and also I have to think of my children's future and their rights as regards issues of nationality, education, health, and social insurance,” Mansour said. The most important risk as far as parents are concerned is that the non-Saudi husband of their daughter might desert his family and go back to his country where he will be beyond the reach of the laws of the Kingdom. Solaf Mohammed, a Saudi elementary school teacher, married a non-Saudi by whom she had a boy and a girl. Now, however, she regrets her decision. “I accepted to marry him because I was already 29, and he was younger than me. But four years later my husband ran away to his country with my children and my money,” she said. Saudi women who marry non-Saudis often have problems receiving their own rights as well as those of their children especially as far as health and education are concerned. Umm Ibrahim's children cannot be treated in a governmental hospital because they are foreigners, and she herself faces some difficulties there although she is a Saudi citizen. “I preferred to have my second baby in a private hospital although my husband's income is not that large just to avoid the complicated procedures I faced with my first baby,” Umm Ibrahim said. “When I had my first baby in a government hospital, they did not allow me to leave unless I produced a witness, a document from a sponsor, and a marriage contract,” she explained. She added that she is happy in her marriage and her family have fully accepted her husband although they objected to her marrying him at first. “I am very happy in my life. All that I need is financial security and a bright future for my children,” she said. However, education and job opportunities are limited for the children of Saudi mothers married to non-Saudis. Marwa Mohammad, whose mother is Saudi and father is non-Saudi, had difficulty finding a place in a university. She had to pay tuition for the first year after which she became a regular student. “Now I face another problem, in that there are no job opportunities for me at all,” she said.
