BBC
Princess Basma is divorced and lives with her children in London
I speak as the daughter of King Saud, the former ruler of Saudi Arabia. My father established the first women’s university in the kingdom, abolished slavery and tried to establish a constitutional monarchy that separates the position of king from that of prime minister. But I am saddened to say that my beloved country today has not fulfilled that early promise.
Our ancient culture, of which I am very proud, is renowned for its nobility and generosity, but we lack, and urgently need, fundamental civil laws with which to govern our society.
As a daughter, sister, (former) wife, mother, businesswoman and a working journalist, these are the things that I would like to see changed in Saudi Arabia.
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2. Divorce laws
I strongly believe that current divorce laws are abusive.
Today in Saudi, a woman can ask for a divorce only if she files for what is called “Khali and Dhali”. This means either she pays a big sum of money running into tens of thousands of dollars or she has to get someone to witness the reason why she is filing for a divorce – an impossible condition to fulfil given that such reasons usually are the kind that remain within the four walls of a marriage.
Another way to keep a woman in the marital home against her will is the automatic granting of custody of any children over the age of six to the father in any divorce settlements.
This state of affairs is in complete contradiction to the Koran, upon which our laws are supposed to be based. In it a woman is given full rights to divorce simply in the case of “irreconcilable differences”.
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(Thanks to reader)