Despite the Fifa president’s attempts to make light of the situation, this is a significant victory for organisers, who were left blindsided in January by reports suggesting a deal was close, given the Saudi state’s appalling human rights record, and had put significant public pressure on Fifa to change course.
Several players had also spoken out, including Arsenal’s Netherlands striker Vivianne Miedema, who told Fifa it should be “deeply ashamed” for even considering such a deal. However, Infantino, who announced a $150m (£124m) prize fund for this year’s Women’s World Cup – a 300% rise from 2019 – said he didn’t see anything wrong with taking sponsorship from countries such as Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia codifies male guardianship and gender discrimination
As the world gathers to mark 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, Saudi Arabia’s continued imprisonment of women for their peaceful expression in support of women’s rights and imposition of travel bans against women human rights defenders are a crucial reminder of the inherently discriminatory systems women in the country face.
On International Women’s Day, on 8 March 2022, Saudi Arabia passed its first Personal Status Law (PSL). Previously, matters related to family life were subject to the discretionary application of the rules of Sharia (Islamic law) and interpretations of Islamic texts by a male dominated judiciary. At the time, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman praised the new law for its accordance “with the latest legal trends and modern international judicial practices”. In reality, however, the law codifies many of the informal yet widespread problematic practices inherent in the male guardianship system and entrenches a system of gender-based discrimination in most aspects of family life, including in marriage, divorce, and child custody.
Musawah, a global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family, defines male guardianship, or wilayah, as “the right and duty of fathers or male family members to exercise guardianship over their dependent wards (female or male).”
Saudi Arabia: 10 Reasons Why Women Flee
Rahaf Mohammed, the Saudi woman who managed to successfully flee her allegedly abusive family, has shed new light on the countless women trapped under the abusive male guardianship system in Saudi Arabia, Human Rights Watch said today. Women face systematic discrimination and are left exposed to domestic violence under the male guardianship system and have few places to turn when they face abuse, leading some women to undertake dangerous escape attempts to flee the country.
Under the male guardianship system, a man controls a Saudi woman’s life from her birth until her death. Every Saudi woman must have a male guardian, normally a father or husband, but in some cases a brother or even a son, who has the power to make a range of critical decisions on her behalf. The Saudi state essentially treats women as permanent legal minors. Saudi Arabia has done very little to end the system, which remains the most significant impediment to women’s rights in the country.
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