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Women's rights in Saudi Arabia are limited in comparison to many of its neighbors. The World Economic Forum 2013 Global Gender Gap Report ranked Saudi Arabia 127th out of 136 countries for gender parity.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Global Gender Gap Report 2013 )〕 All women, regardless of age, are required to have a male guardian. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that prohibits women from driving. Saudi women constitute 13% of the country's native workforce as of 2015.〔〔 However, women's status has changed in recent decades. Women were previously forbidden from voting or being elected to political office, but in 2011 King Abdullah declared that women would be able to vote and run in the 2015 local elections, as well as be appointed to the Consultative Assembly.〔 More university graduates in Saudi Arabia are Saudi women than men,〔(Higher Education: the Path to Progress for Saudi Women ) World Policy, 18 October 2011.〕 and female literacy is estimated to be 91% (though lower than male literacy) far higher than just 40 years ago. The average age at first marriage among Saudi females in the kingdom is 25 years.〔(Saudi women no longer confined to their conventional roles ) Arab News, Retrieved 3 July 2013〕〔(Age at First Marriage, Female – All Countries ) Quandl, Retrieved 3 July 2013〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Saudi Youth: Unveiling the Force for Change )〕 Many conservative Saudi women do not support loosening traditional gender roles and restrictions, on the grounds that Saudi Arabia is the closest thing to an "ideal and pure Islamic nation," and under threat from "imported Western values".〔 Among the factors that define rights for women in Saudi are government laws, the Hanbali and Wahhabi interpretation of Sunni Islam, and traditional customs of the Arabian peninsula.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Saudi Arabia: Cultural Homogeneity and Values )〕 ==Background== Gender roles in Saudi society come from Sharia (Islamic law). Islamic law (sharia) is based on the Quran and hadith (teachings of Prophet Muhammad). In Saudi culture, the Sharia is interpreted according to a strict Sunni form known as the way of the Salaf (righteous predecessors) or Wahhabism. The law is mostly unwritten, leaving judges with significant discretionary power which they usually exercise in favor of tribal traditions. The variation of interpretation often leads to controversy. For example, Sheikh Ahmad Qassim Al-Ghamdi, chief of the Mecca region's mutaween (religious police), has said prohibiting ikhtilat (gender mixing) has no basis in Sharia.〔Wagner, Rob L. (23 April 2010) ("Saudis Debate Gender Segregation" )"NewsTilt"〕 Meanwhile, Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Barrak, another prominent cleric, issued a fatwa (religious opinion) that proponents of ikhtilat should be killed.〔 According to the ''Encyclopedia of Human Rights'', two "key" conservative Islamic "concepts" that curtail women's rights in Saudi are *sex segregation, justified under the Sharia legal notion of 'shielding from corruption' (''dar al-fasaad''), and *women's alleged `lack of capacity` (''adam al-kifaa'ah'') which is the basis of the necessity of a male guardian (mahram) whose permission must be granted for travel, medical procedures, obtaining permits, etc. "It's the culture, not the religion," is a Saudi saying. At least according to some (Library of Congress) customs of the Arabian peninsula also play a part in women's place in Saudi society. The peninsula is the ancestral home of patriarchal, nomadic tribes, in which separation of women and men and ''namus'' (honour) are considered central.〔 Many Saudis do not see Islam as the main impediment to women's rights. According to one female journalist; “If the Quran does not address the subject, then the clerics will err on the side of caution and make it haram (forbidden). The driving ban for women is the best example.”〔 Another (Sabria Jawhar) believes that “if all women were given the rights the Quran guarantees us, and not be supplanted by tribal customs, then the issue of whether Saudi women have equal rights would be reduced.”〔Wagner, Rob L. (13 April 2010) ("Saudi Female Journalist Tackles Muslim Stereotypes" ) Sabria Jawhar| ''NewsTilt''.〕 Asmaa Al-Muhhamad, editor for Al Arabiya, points out that women in all other Muslim nations, including those in the Gulf area, have far more political power than Saudi women. The 2013 Global Gender Gap Report ranked several Muslim nations, such as Kyrgyzstan, Gambia, and Indonesia significantly higher than Saudi Arabia for women's equality. However it moved up four places from the last report due to an increase in the percentage of women in parliament (from 0% to 20%), (based on the introduction of a new quota for women in parliament) and had the biggest overall score improvement relative to 2006 of any country in the Middle East.〔 Saudis often invoke the life of Prophet Muhammad, to prove that Islam allows strong women. His first wife, Khadijah, was a powerful businesswoman who employed him and then initiated the marriage proposal on her own. Another wife, Aisha commanded an army at the Battle of Bassorah and is the source of many hadiths.〔 Muhammad ended female infanticide and established the first rights for women in Arab culture. He reportedly told Muslim men, "You have rights over your women, and your women have rights over you."〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Muhammad and women )〕 Enforcement and custom vary by region. Jeddah is relatively permissive. Riyadh and the surrounding Najd region, origin of the House of Saud, have stricter traditions.〔 Prohibitions against women driving are typically unenforced in rural areas.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8GiTnb33wE )〕 Enforcement of the kingdom's strict moral code, including hijab and separation of the sexes, is often handled by the ''Mutaween'' (also ''Hai'a'') -- a special committee of Saudi men sometimes called "religious police". Mutaween have some law enforcement powers, including the power to detain Saudis or foreigners living in the kingdom for doing anything deemed to be immoral. While the anti-vice committee is active across the kingdom, it is particularly active in Riyadh, Buraydah and Tabuk. The 1979 Iranian Revolution and subsequent Grand Mosque Seizure in Saudi Arabia caused the government to implement stricter enforcement of sharia. Saudi women who were adults before 1979 recall driving, inviting non-mahram (unrelated) men into their homes (with the door open), and being in public without an abaya (full-body covering) or niqab (veil).〔 The subsequent September 11 attacks against the World Trade Center in 2001, on the other hand, are often viewed as precipitating cultural change away from strict fundamentalism.〔〔〔 The government under King Abdullah was considered reformist. It opened the country's first co-educational university, appointed the first female cabinet member, and passed laws against domestic violence. Women did not gain the right to vote in 2005, but the king supported a woman's right to drive and vote. Critics say the reform was far too slow, and often more symbolic than substantive.〔 Activists, such as Wajeha Al-Huwaider, compare the condition of Saudi women to slavery. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Women's rights in Saudi Arabia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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