It’s fair to say that women get a rather raw deal of things in Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich kingdom best known for doing stuff like murdering journalists and attempting to stop women fleeing to Australia to escape arranged marriages by having them arrested in Bangkok – and say, Foreign Minister Marise Payne, what are we doing about that?
However, a new law went into effect yesterday which means that Saudi women will now be alerted by text message when they are secretly divorced by their husbands.
In related news: Saudi men can totally divorce their wives without telling them.
This new tweak means that women can apply for alimony when they’re suddenly informed of their new relationship status via, you know, a text message.
And that’s good because up until now some women have only discovered it when, say, applying for a passport or attempting to open a bank account or get elective surgery or travel outside of the kingdom – all things which women can’t do without a male relative giving their assent.
Saudi men can divorce very easily – literally by deciding that they’re divorced, in fact – whereas women have to prove fault from a male-centric justice system in order to receive “khula”, and risk losing their children by doing so.
Also, it’s worth noting that things like alimony and child support is not exactly heavily mandated in Saudi Arabia if the ex-husband doesn’t fancy paying it. Also, that it reportedly extends for a period of four months and ten days, and that men get automatic custody of their children after they turn seven (for boys) and nine (for girls).
In other words: this new text message service is more a courtesy than anything else.