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Will Saudi women break chains of male guardianship?

Saudi women recently launched a hashtag calling for an end to male guardianship, which has been behind many of the physical and moral violations they face in Saudi society.
Female driver Azza Al Shmasani alights from her car after driving in defiance of the ban in Riyadh June 22, 2011. Saudi Arabia has no formal ban on women driving. But as citizens must use only Saudi-issued licences in the country, and as these are issued only to men, women drivers are anathema. An outcry at the segregation, which contributes to the general cloistering of Saudi women, has been fuelled by social media interest in two would-be female motorists arrested in May.REUTERS/Fahad Shadeed (SAUDI ARABI
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For three weeks now, the hashtag #StopEnslavingSaudiWomen has been active on social media. The newly established feminist association Saudi Women Against Marginalization, which took to Twitter in June, launched this hashtag. Meanwhile, the issue of ending male guardianship over women in Saudi Arabia remains highly controversial.

Saudi women are not just calling for the end of male guardianship in marriage contracts or the transfer of guardianship from one abusive husband or oppressive father to another better man who could be a brother or uncle, like it was for women a few years ago in some Saudi courts.

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