Women’s Day

Humanity owes women its very existance.
But all they are given is more heartache.
Second- or third-class citizens in virtually all communities.
No rights.
Other than walking a few steps behind men.

Isn’t it time they realise their own potential?
Unhindered by society, custom or religion?
And stop judging them by biological differences?
Isn’t it time that they are accepted as equals?

Didn’t humanity ever had a female prophet?

Happy International Women’s Day.

Girls as young as nine married off in Saudi
Jeddah letter by Habib Shaikh • 3 March 2006

How does it feel to be married at an age when it is a period of playing children’s games?

The Arabic daily Al Watan spoke to some Saudi women about their experiences of being married at a very young age, and suddenly finding themselves in adult situations for which they were unprepared. According to the daily, the fault was in the lack of awareness on the part of the girls’ families.

One of the women was married off when she was 14, because her father decided she had enough education and should marry. Her husband now calls her “illiterate.”

Another of the girls was the victim of her stepmother who wanted to get rid of her and saw marriage as the way to do so. A father saw a solution for his indebtedness in marrying off his 14-year-old daughter. Another girl thought if she married, she would escape from the hell of living with her father but she ended up living in an even worse hell of her husband’s.

According Naser Al Suhaibi, a marriage official, in the absence of strict laws that guarantee young girls their childhood freedom, there were even cases of girls as young as nine being married off. Al Suhaibi said that many scholars rule out the matter of age as long as the father agrees to the marriage. He said that there was no law preventing marriage officials from performing these marriages.

Umm Nuf said her father came to tell her that she was to marry. “I was 14 at that time and he did not even bother to ask how I felt. I was happy as a child because I had nice clothes and lots of toys. When I got married, I found myself in a strange world. I did not know what to do and my mother never taught me anything,” she said. She now has four children and her husband wants to marry another wife because he thinks she is illiterate and that he needs an educated wife.

Even if the marriage of young girls is a success, there can be a lingering sad feeling. Zena, a young wife, said that she was forced to marry her stepmother’s brother. “After my mother’s death, my father married a bad woman. As soon as she entered our house, things changed. She stopped me from going to school and forced me to agree to marry her brother. He was 10 years older than I was and he turned out to be a kind and loving man. I still remember, however, that I was forced to marry and had no opportunity to agree or disagree,” she added.

Nadia said that her father had contracted a debt that he could not repay, and wanted her to marry at a very young age. “My father told me that I had to marry his friend in order to keep him from going to jail for not repaying the debt. I had to accept and so I married the man. Those were the worst years of my life. My marriage did not last; I was divorced after three years. My future has been destroyed and because of the forced marriage, I was unable to go to university and continue my education,” she said.
Khaleej Times :: 3 Mar ’06