Saudi Male Guardianship: 8 Rules Women Faced and What Changed

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Until 2019, every adult woman in Saudi Arabia lived under a male guardianship system known as wilayah. Her guardian, or wali, was usually her father or husband, or failing them a brother, uncle or even her own son, and his approval shaped decisions that adults elsewhere make alone: marrying, travelling, getting a passport and, in practice, often working or receiving medical care.

In late 2017, when this list first circulated, Saudi Arabia had just announced that women would be allowed to drive. Yet much of the guardianship framework was still in place. Since then the picture has changed a great deal. Below are the eight restrictions most often cited at the time, with an honest look at which have been lifted, which have been softened and which remain.

The short answer: what has changed since 2017

• Driving: a royal decree of 26 September 2017 allowed women to obtain licences, and the ban ended on 24 June 2018.
• Passports and travel: since August 2019, Saudis over 21, women included, can obtain a passport and travel abroad without a guardian's permission.
• Family paperwork: women can now register births, marriages and divorces and act as guardians of their minor children.
• Living alone: from June 2021, single, divorced or widowed women may live independently without a guardian's consent.
• Still in place: marriage still formally involves a male guardian, and in court one man's testimony is still generally weighed as equal to that of two women.

How the guardianship system worked

Guardianship was never one single law. It grew out of a conservative reading of Islamic jurisprudence, government regulations and everyday practice by officials, employers, landlords and hospitals. Some rules were written down; others were simply habit. The government formally dropped the requirement for a guardian's permission to work in 2008, for example, but many employers kept asking for it.

From 2012, guardians received a text message whenever a woman under their guardianship left the country. Later the government's Absher app, which let men grant or withdraw travel permission online, drew international criticism. Human Rights Watch, which documented the system in detail, described women as being treated like legal minors for life.

The eight restrictions, then and now

1. Marriage

A woman could not sign her own marriage contract; the agreement was formally made between the groom and the bride's father or other guardian. Since 2005 the bride's own consent has been required, and since 2016 clerics must give her a copy of the contract. Marriage to a foreign national has reportedly needed separate government approval. Guardian involvement in marriage remains the clearest surviving part of the system.

2. Equal standing in court

In many cases the testimony of two women is treated as equal to that of one man, and women have often needed a male relative to speak or swear for them. Calling this the denial of a fair trial is a strong way to put it, but the unequal weight given to women's evidence is real and has not been abolished.

3. Medical treatment

Hospitals frequently asked for a guardian's signature before major procedures. In one widely reported case in 2013, doctors in Al Bahah delayed amputating the hand of a badly injured woman because no male guardian was present to approve it. In May 2017, King Salman ordered that women be allowed to use government services, including healthcare, without a guardian's consent unless a specific regulation required it.

4. Custody of children after divorce

Under the practice of the time, a divorced mother typically kept young children only until a set age, after which custody could pass to the father; the commonly cited ages were seven for boys and nine for girls, though courts had discretion. The 2019 reforms allowed mothers to act as legal guardians of minor children, a significant change for divorced women dealing with schools, banks and government offices.

5. Travel and passports

This was the restriction that most often made international news, especially when young women fled abroad. The rules that took effect on 20 August 2019 ended the need for a guardian's permission to obtain a passport or travel for anyone over 21. Women still need to be adults; permission rules continue to apply to minors of both sexes.

6. Bank accounts and money

The claim that women could not open a bank account at all was overstated even in 2017: rules and bank practice varied. Women did, however, frequently face demands for a guardian's involvement in financial and business matters. Later reforms, as reported by the World Bank, prohibit gender-based discrimination in access to financial services.

7. What to wear in public

The black abaya was effectively compulsory in public for years, enforced by the religious police. After the religious police lost their arrest powers in 2016 and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said publicly in 2018 that decent, respectful dress did not have to mean a black abaya, many women relaxed their dress, and by late 2019 the abaya and headscarf were no longer formally required.

8. Mixing with unrelated men

Restaurants, cafés, banks and universities were strictly divided into men-only and "family" sections, and contact with unrelated men was heavily policed. Women were allowed into sports stadiums in 2018, and in December 2019 the requirement for separate entrances and sections in restaurants was dropped. Many workplaces have since become mixed.

Why the rules started to change

Pressure came from several directions. Saudi women's rights campaigners spent decades petitioning, driving in protest and documenting cases. Social media campaigns, notably one in 2016 calling for an end to guardianship, gathered thousands of signatures. At the same time, the government's Vision 2030 economic plan set targets for raising women's participation in the workforce, which made guardianship rules an economic obstacle as well as a human rights issue.

Political change had begun before 2017. In January 2013 King Abdullah appointed 30 women to the Shura (Consultative) Council and set a 20% minimum for women members. In December 2015 women voted and stood for office in municipal elections for the first time, and around 20 women won seats. Saudi women first competed at the Olympics in London in 2012, and four reportedly took part at Rio 2016.

Reform alongside repression

The reforms did not come with more freedom to campaign. In May 2018, weeks before the driving ban ended, several of the best-known activists who had fought for that right were arrested, and some, including Loujain al-Hathloul, spent years in prison or under travel bans. Rights organisations argue that the state wants to be seen as the sole author of change, and that remaining guardianship rules can still be used to control women in conflict with their families.

So the fair summary is mixed. A Saudi woman in 2026 can drive, travel, live alone and run her own paperwork in ways that were unthinkable a decade ago. She still faces unequal treatment in marriage and in court, and public criticism of the system carries real risk.

Key dates at a glance

• 2008: formal requirement of guardian permission to work dropped.
• 2012: Saudi women compete at the Olympics for the first time.
• January 2013: 30 women appointed to the Shura Council.
• December 2015: women vote and run in municipal elections.
• May 2017: decree on access to government services without guardian consent.
• 26 September 2017: decree allowing women to drive; ban ends 24 June 2018.
• 20 August 2019: passport and travel reforms for over-21s take effect.
• June 2021: women allowed to live independently.

Sources: Arab News, 20 August 2019: Saudi Arabia implements end to travel restrictions for Saudi women; Wikipedia: Women's rights in Saudi Arabia; Human Rights Watch: Boxed In, Women and Saudi Arabia's Male Guardianship System; the original list appeared on Truth Theory. Photo: igorr / 123RF.