Saudi Judge Says It’s OK to Slap Wife
There are times when I can’t help but be discontent with the way things are in America today – the housing crisis, the job crisis, foreclosures left and right, big corporate bailouts while the rest of the people are having to go without – all things that I can not do anything about. However, every once in a while I come across something that makes me rethink all of my gripes. I recently read this article in which a Saudi Arabian judge stated that, if a Saudi woman was given a certain amount of money for which to go shopping, and she purchased an abaya (the black headdress that the women are required to wear) that she spent more than what her husband thought to be reasonable, then he had the right to slap her without any ramifications. In fact it was argued that she actually deserved it for upsetting him.
The same judge also made a statement that one of the major reasons for domestic violence in the country was a result of women using vulgar language against their husbands, and that the husbands in those instances also had justified reasons for hitting their wives. It is defended as something that is taught to men by their culture, that it is perfectly acceptable to raise your hand to your wife. Honestly, this is not a surprising attitude from a man living in a part of the world that still operates using arranged marriages, a place where women are neither seen nor heard, where female circumcision is still common practice in some areas, and the basic human rights that women in the western world enjoy are non-existent.
When I read something like that it actually makes me thankful to live in a place where, though not ideal by any means, there are rules to protect the basic rights and dignity of women. To be stuck in a world where, if I were to spend too much money would result in a beating from my husband is something that I cannot fathom and situation which I myself would not be able to tolerate. The only problem is, living in a place where even law enforcement has the mind-set that this kind of unjust behavior is ok, these women have absolutely no chance of escaping this world of injustice, a world in which they did not ask to live, and a world in which they don’t deserve. It makes me sick to my stomach that these women have no choice but to live this way, they have no advocate to help implement change, no real way of getting out.
At least in the United States it is getting to the point where women are able to be heard when the subject of domestic violence comes up (especially in a documentary like Sin by Silence) and where there is no legitimate reason for a man to raise his hand to his wife or girlfriend. If only we could get it out to the rest of the world that women are people, and deserve to be treated as such.
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