Women can’t do what? : 6 things women can’t do across the world
Rebecca Holmes, Staff Writer
Women’s rights triumphs and failures in the 21st Century. Photo Courtesy of Unsplash.
Even though women were just recently given the right to drive in Saudi Arabia women’s rights around the world still have a long way to go. We’ve taken a step in the right direction, but the struggle definitely does not end here.
Islamic clerics and seniors in northern Pakistan created a law to keep women from shopping alone during the holy month of Ramadan. The ban was created to keep men from being distracted during such a holy time. Women are only allowed to shop if they are accompanied by a male relative. If they are caught shopping without a male relative they will be arrested by the Police. The cleric Maulana Mirzaqeem told AFP news agency that women “spread vulgarity and spoil men’s fasting in Ramadan.”
In Indonesia officials created a law that said women stradling men on motorcycles is “improper”. They demanded that women sit “side-saddle” with their legs hanging off one side. This law was enacted to prevent women from being in an “uncomfortable position”. It gets its origins from strict Sharia Law.
In both Yemen and Saudi Arabia women are not considered full citizens. Therefore, both places have a “male-guardianship” in effect. Even though they don’t directly require a man’s permission for a woman to travel inside the country, a religious man states that “a woman should not leave her house without her husband’s permission.”
4. Women can’t choose their job, their husbands do
Women in Cameroon and Guinea do not have any control over what profession they enter into. If you’re a woman living in either of those places you would most likely do the same profession as your husband. In both of these countries the husband is fully within his rights to force his wife into a profession, even if she hates it.
5. Women can’t inherit as much as their brothers
In Tunisia women don’t inherit the same amount as their male relatives. By law women must inherit less than men because they are seen as second-class citizens. The parents essentially don’t have control over what children get what, but instead it is dictated by the Tunisia government.
Women in Saudi Arabia are required by law to severely limit the amount of time they spend with males that are not their relatives. The vast majority of public buildings such as offices, banks and universities, all have separate entrances for males and females. Transportation, public parks, beaches and amusement parks are also segregated in most parts of the country. Women and men that are caught mixing together unlawfully will be criminally charged. Even though both parties are criminally charged, women usually face harsher punishments.
