In the wake of the Vision 2030 project, Saudi Arabia started to present a series of progressive reforms regarding women’s rights. These reforms were received with great hope as they demonstrated a much hoped-for change in the country. This would have allowed many women to be freer, autonomous, and to carry out certain activities that they were previously precluded from doing. However, it is important to note that many of these reforms have nevertheless left barriers that continue to limit their rights. For this reason, it is good to take a critical look at the way Saudi Arabia presents all these reforms and recognise the limitations that, in fact, continue to persist for women.
One of the first important reforms came in 2018, when Saudi women were given the opportunity to drive for the first time. A number of restrictions that hung over them with regard to travel had also been lifted. As of 2019, women over the age of 21 could apply for a passport and leave the kingdom without the permission of a male guardian. Furthermore, since 2021, they have been given the right to go to Mecca for the Hajj without a male relative, provided they travel with other women.
In 2022, the Saudi government also introduced the Personal Status Law. This law was presented as a very important reform that would have changed one of the most critical aspects of women’s rights in the country: the male guardianship system. The law actually reformed some aspects in this respect. For instance, a minimum age for marriage was set, and the role of men in women’s lives was limited. The latter are now allowed to access healthcare, education, and work without the permission of a male guardian. In other areas, however, guardianship remains firmly in place. Thus, this makes all talks of advancing women’s rights controversial and not very credible.
Faced with these continuing limitations, many women started to advocate for their rights. Among them is Manahel al-Otaibi, whose case is emblematic of the ambiguity surrounding the progressivism that Saudi Arabia wants to demonstrate. A fitness instructor, Manahel, was arrested on 16 November 2022 on charges of violating laws regarding the clothes women can wear. Indeed, she had posted pictures on social media with “indecent clothes” and had gone to shops without an abaya. The charges against Manahel also fall under the Anti-Cybercrime Law that the Saudi government is using to crack down on activists and dissidents. Manahel had, in fact, taken part in demonstrations against male guardianship and posted tweets criticising it.
After her arrest, Manahel was scheduled to appear before the Specialised Criminal Court on 26 July 2023. However, the trial was moved without a date being announced. In August 2023, she was placed in solitary confinement without air conditioning and has been banned from any contact with her family since November of the same year. Her trial was held behind closed doors on 9 January 2024, and Manahel was sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment by the SCC.
In April 2024, she managed to contact her family, recounting the inhuman conditions in which she was held. Manahel told them about being a victim of violence and finding herself in solitary confinement with a broken leg. They had also denied her the necessary medical support. From this point onwards, information about her condition and the way she was treated reached her family members in an increasingly less constant manner. From December 2024 until today, no one has heard from her and Manahel was forcibly disappeared.
This is not the first time that Manahel’s family has been affected by Saudi repression. His sister Fawzia fled in 2022 to avoid being sentenced and cannot return to the country as she would risk imprisonment. Her other sister, Maryam, was detained in 2017 for 104 days for her activism for women’s rights. She is currently subject to a travel ban.
The persecution of Manahel fully demonstrates the ambiguity of the Saudi reforms regarding women’s rights. Despite promises to give them more freedom and openness about certain activities they can do, women in Saudi Arabia continue to live in the shadow of their male guardians. What happened to Manahel al-Otaibi is unacceptable, and the Saudi government must inform his family as soon as possible of his whereabouts and condition. It must also end the system of male guardianship and give women the freedoms they are entitled to.