r own money long before this was allowed in Britain, discrimination is still evident in their interpretation of the holy book. The Islamic Law states that ‘daughters receive half the inheritance awarded to brothers’ and ‘the testimony of one man equals that of two women’. There are greater restrictions on women than on men regarding marriage to non-Saudi’s and non-Muslims. The conversion of a Muslim to another religion is considered apostasy which is a crime under the Shari’a law which is punishable by death.Cultural StructureAlthough discrimination of women is very prevalent, most of it is actually not part of the original beliefs of Islam. It has been enforced more because it is a tradition. Physical spousal abuse and violence against women are common problems. However, the government considers these issues to be a family matter and rarely intervenes. Women cannot leave their home without the accompaniment of a male escort. They are not permitted to drive at all and cannot use pubic transport or be hospitalised without the consent of a male relative. Segregation of women occurs everywhere and women make up only 5% of the formal workforce. Women must demonstrate legally specified grounds for divorce yet men may divorce without giving cause.There is quite a low literacy rate as exemplified in ‘Table 1’ where only 72% of males are literate and a low 50% of females are literate. Even when compared to the suppressed developing country of Cambodia, these figures are low. This causes a difficulty in job placement among Saudi Arabians, which is possibly another reason why foreign labor is so predominant.Whilst the country is economically rich in oil and related industrial infrastructure, it is ‘capital poor’ in general education and skills. All these factors will have a major effect on the nation when the oil reserves are depleted.The high infant mortality rate of 55 deaths per 1000 ...
