On September 6, ECDHR launched its podcast channel entitled ‘ECDHR in Conversation’. Its first season is devoted to Saudi women and will be composed of 5 episodes in which five brave and inspiring women will share their stories and experiences living in Saudi Arabia and then leaving the country, or never returning, in the hope of a better life.
The human rights situation, and more specifically the women’s rights situation, is extremely preoccupying in Saudi Arabia. In addition, our participants touch upon a number of issues and concepts that are specific to the Kingdom such as the male guardianship system.
This reading list includes suggestions from our interviewees, Shoaa, Sahar, Bethany, Hala and Lina, should you wish to expand your knowledge and understanding of Saudi Arabia, and in particular the challenges and difficulties that women face in the biggest country of the Arabian Peninsula. It includes NGO reports, articles but also novels and biographies.
Abuses Under Scrutiny: Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, ALQST Annual Report January 2021
General Account of the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia
A Most Masculine State, Madawi Al-Rasheed
Gender, Politics, and religion in Saudi Arabia
Boxed In: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System, Human Rights Watch
On the male guardianship system
Daring to Drive, Mana al-Sharif
How the author stood up to an unjust law
Girls of Riyadh, Rajaa Alsanea, translated by Marilyn Booth
A fictionalized account of four Saudi women’s quest for freedom and fulfillment
On Dar Al Reaya “care centres”, Ola Salem
Price of Honor, Jan Goodwin
Interviews with women from 10 Islamic countries
Raif Badawi, The Voice of Freedom, Ensaf Haidar & Andrea Claudia Hoffmann
A political refugee tells the story of her husband’s imprisonment
Running for All the Right Reasons, Ferial Masry
The biography of a Saudi-born American politician
Salman’s Legacy, Ed Madawi Al-Rasheed,
Chapter on women’s rights in Saudi Arabia by Nora Doaiji
The Son King: Reform and Repression in Saudi Arabia, Madawi Al-Rasheed,
Chapter on the women’s rights movement and the kafala system
Veiled atrocities, Sami Alrabaa
True Stories of oppression in Saudi Arabia