Gender Inequality In Saudi Arabia

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Hillary Clinton once said, “If a country doesn't recognize minority rights and human rights, including women's rights, you will not have the kind of stability and prosperity that is possible.” Human rights are an important and controversial topic that has been about for hundreds of years. The first act of human rights occurred during 539 BC when Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon. The great king of Persia, Cyrus, freed all slaves and gave them the freedom to choose their own religion. Cyrus’ encouragement of freedom as well as other decrees was recorded on what is known today as the Cyrus Cylinder, the world’s first charter of human rights. It was from Babylon that the idea of human rights began to grow and spread to other civilizations including…show more content…
Despite human rights being a significant issue that should be preserved across the globe, many nations, including Saudi Arabia, still violate basic human rights. The Islamic Sharia governs the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, located in Western Asia. The Sharia is a crucial source of law in several Muslim countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Qatar. However, the Kingdom’s legislation is still deemed strict in comparison to the aforementioned nations. Saudi Arabia’s violation of basic human rights is seen in the law that prevents women from driving which reflects gender inequality in the Kingdom. However, gender inequality is only a mere fraction of the overall human rights violations enforced by Saudi law. Specifically, freedom of speech does not exist in the Kingdom despite its irrelevance to the Islamic Sharia. For example, in 2014, three lawyers were arrested and sentenced to 8 years in prison for criticizing the Ministry of Justice on the social networking platform Twitter. A blogger by the name Raif Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1000 lashes for…show more content…
The first act of preserving human rights occurred during the reign of Cyrus the Great, who freed his captives and allowed them to choose their own religion. Despite this, many nations today have chosen ignore the basic rights of their citizens. One such nation is Saudi Arabia. Despite being one of many nations that is governed by the Islamic Sharia, Saudi Arabia has used strict and brutal measures to punish those who break the law. Although many of Saudi Arabia’s laws are, in fact, derived from the Islamic Sharia, Saudi authorities have abused power for their own personal gain. Islam is a peaceful religion as opposed to Saudi Arabia’s legislation, which aims to punish those who seek freedom of speech and religion. Basic human rights are violated in the Kingdom. One such example is the prohibition of women drivers. Where in Islamic law does it state that women should not drive? Saudi Arabia’s brutality has caught the attention of the international community as several different human rights organizations have attempted to interfere and put a stop to the violations made by Saudi authorities. Unfortunately, Saudi authorities have not allowed these organizations to interfere. As a result, Saudi Arabia continues to be isolated from the international community in terms of its stance on human

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