Quite an interesting piece on how Saudi women who wish to travel abroad for their educations are finding ways around governmental edicts that require they travel with (or with the permission of) male guardians. The Arab News article is a survey of opinions of various Saudis, both pro and con, and gives a look at how Saudis are seeking to cope with clashes between traditionalist culture (and its interpretations of religion) and more modern demands. It’s clear that this fight is not settled.
Mesfaar Marriage Travel Solution for Women
RIYADH, 10 April 2007 — Women students aspiring to go abroad on scholarships as part of the King Abdullah Scholarship Program were told last month that they would be unable to leave the Kingdom without a legal companion in the form of a husband, brother, or father — something that has caused an increase in a form of marriage dubbed the “mesfaar marriage†(the travel marriage).
Thirteen students have so far announced their intentions to get married solely for the purpose of being able to travel abroad and qualify for the scholarship program. The students say their family circumstances make it difficult for their brothers and fathers to accompany them abroad for long periods of time, sometimes three or four years.
“After learning about the requirements that women students need to have a male guardian in order to go abroad, some friends and I decided to get married. We announced that we were hoping to marry quickly in order to meet the deadline for our scholarship applications,†said an applicant of the King Abdullah Scholarship Program.
Speaking about the name of the marriage, student Zuleykha (not her real name) said: “The name was coined because we announced that we wanted to get married in order to travel abroad. That’s why it’s called the mesfaar marriage.â€
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April:11:2007 - 14:55
I wonder about this one. My wife and all of her sisters, three of them, got educated here in the USA on the scholarship. One of my sister’s in law is actuallybest friends with a daughter of the man who runs the Saudi Cultural Mission that overseas the scholarship program.
We have not heard anything about this. More to the point, it is not affecting Saudi women already studying otuside of Saudi.
My wife’s two youngest sisters are here in the USA studying with the Saudi scholarship and do so without a guardian/mehram. The way it has worked in the past is that you are allowed to study without a mehram, you just get a smaller monthly stipend.
The current stipend for a woman without children and without mehram is now about $1,000. If you have a mehram it gets boosted by about $1,000 a month. Many women in the past have beat this by having their father/brother/uncle flying in to go to the Cultural Mission and sign on as a mehram, only to leave again.
All of these rules can be beat by wasta (connections). This is how most of these scholarships are got in the first place, wasta and reshwa. The men and women who come over on the scholarship come from families with money and connections. The stipend, even $2,000, is not close to enough to support most of these students in the manner in which they are used to living, especially when you consider a lot of the universities that they are approved to study at.
This money often becomes party money, new Porsche money, and the like.
I dont think these new rules will make much of a difference at all. Women have always required permission of a mehram to leave the country and they never would have gotten the scholarship without the permission of the family anyways. To this point only more liberal families would allow their daughters to travel to the USA, because “they all know what America is like”. So they let their sons travel to the USA to pick up American brides.
There are a few Saudi families, some even well known, that have sent their daughters abroad to hide scandals and their behavior.
It’s like the old American military phrase, “what goes TDY stays TDY”.
April:11:2007 - 15:19
I’d only add that I know very conservative Saudi families who, out of respect for their women, permit them to travel abroad alone. These are, mostly, smart people who realize that a lack of trust in their children does not help them become mature human beings. I think, in fact, that the issue of trust is the major factor in why some of an authoritarian bent are afraid to take chances for their and their children’s futures.
April:12:2007 - 10:00
I agree, I know some of the like myself, including the current Saudi Cultural attache himself, not to mention the one before him.