Gender Segregation in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia

Running head: GENDER SEGREGATION IN AFGHANISTAN AND SAUDI ARABIA 1
The Gender Segregation in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia
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GENDER SEGREGATION IN AFGHANISTAN AND SAUDI ARABIA 2
Gender segregation in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan has been their culture for quite a
long time. In Saudi Arabia, women had no freedom of taking action, or making decision related
to their lives without permission from the men. Every woman had a man guardian, for example a
father, brother, uncle, cousin or grandfather. The guardian was to be involved in any issue related
to the woman. For instance, they were the one to decide to whom to be married to and when to
travel outside country, when and where to seek treatment, they could not attend court
proceeding. As seen in the article of B&B “Two Faces of power", the political scientists see
power as the opportunity to make decision. Therefore the women in these two nations were
deprived of this power. In Afghanistan, the women were like slaves. They were not permitted to
walk out of their house without a man with them. They could not be educated or be employed.
They were treated like non-valuable goods. Women were even given out as a pay for a dispute.
However, these restrictions were not in the government laws but were their cultural practices.
These segregation practices occurred in all public and private sectors of the country (Alhazmi
and Nyland, 2013). Girls could not school together with their brothers, women were banned
from driving, they could not interact with men who they were not related to and could not vote
nor vie for any position in the government. These practices had been the main agenda in debates
of international advocates who termed the practices as backwardness. Consequently, detrimental
effects had been evidenced in this nation. As asserted by Baki (2004), the gender segregated
education system fails to prepare the students for global economy. The Saudi students always
experience transitional challenge when studying in western schools and find it difficult to adapt
in a mixed group (Alhazmi and Nyland, 2013). In employments, the Saudi society had a negative
attitude towards women nurses (Mebrouk, 2008). They consider nursing as not the right
profession for women since the nurses were not allowed to offer the services to male gender. The

GENDER SEGREGATION IN AFGHANISTAN AND SAUDI ARABIA 3
power imbalance between men and women in Saudi Arabia has put women in a position where
their rights have been violated (Al Alhreth, and Al Dighrir, 2015). As evident through secret
media reports, the women were resistant to the restrictions but had no power to air their views.
International human right and through women activism have been working to stop these
segregations and to fight for gender equalities in Saudi Arabia. Through campaigns by women
activist, the Saudi Arabia women can now enjoy major gains that they never enjoyed before.
Currently women can drive around Saudi Arabia freely. In 2015 they acquired the right to vote.
They currently have a right to vote and vie for governmental positions. Not only campaigns that
have led to the realization of these rights for women in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan but there
are other factors that have highly contributed to this success. The thesis statement of this article
is that there are many social and industrial factors that led to women suffrage without movement
in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan.
Political changes
Though not documented in the law of the Saudi Arabia, women were not allowed to vote
nor express their interest in any leadership position. However, during the reign of late King
Abdullah in 2015, the Saudi Arabia government decreed the women electoral suffrage. The
women were permitted to participate in municipal elections and also to vie for the available
position. This decree by the government indicated positive developments towards women
freedom. Though few women registered for voting in that year, quite a significant number were
interested in the municipal positions.This decree indicated change in political stand on the strict
laws on women. The low turnout for registration of women was attributed to fear of the
unknown. Media reports indicate that most women were not permitted by their male guardians
to participate in the elections. In 2009, the Afghanistan government together with the women