In a bid to emancipate women, thousands of Saudis have signed an online petition to end the kingdom’s guardianship system.

Activist Aziza Al-Yousef said that, “Women should be treated as a full citizens.” “This is not only a women’s issue, this is also putting pressure on normal men, this is not an issue for women only,” she said.

According to the male guardianship system, a male family member, normally the father, husband or brother, must grant permission for a woman’s study, travel and other activities. Activists say that even female prisoners have to be received by the guardian upon their release, meaning that some have to languish in jail beyond their sentences if the man does not want to accept them.

Nassima al-Sadah, an activist in Eastern Province, said that, “We are suffering from this guardianship system.”

“This momentum got very high after the hashtag was created” and following a report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch, Yousef said. “Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship system remains the most significant impediment to women’s rights in the country despite limited reforms over the last decade,” the watchdog said.

Hamid M Khan, deputy director of The Rule of Law Collaborative at the University of South Carolina, said that,“Many in the royal family not all but there is a significant number in the royal family – actually view this is as a bit exhausting”

“This notion of guardianship is not necessarily embedded in the Qur’an but it’s based upon the jurist view that there are certain patriarchal understandings about the necessity of guarding a woman from these men,” Khan explained.

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Nandini