Arab News takes a look at the problems that Saudi women with ‘no traceable lineage’—i.e., born out of wedlock—face in a society that places much value on social status. Saudi women already face certain systemic problems in life: can’t drive, are limited in their legal authorities, need to be chaperoned, etc.

If a woman can’t identify her father, though, her chances for a successful marriage in Saudi Arabia become even more limited. While her personal character may be impeccable, her lack of status too often is considered a lack of character. She ends up with a misfit for a husband or is treated like a maid by the family. It seems that being raised in an orphanage in the Kingdom is a sentence to celibacy and spinsterhood, at least within its laws and society.

Paying the price for others’ faults
Fatima Al-Saadi | Arab News

JEDDAH: They are children without known lineages, often the outcome of illegitimate relationships. Their mothers abandoned them in streets or outside mosques at birth, as they could not bear the shame of giving birth outside wedlock. With no one to turn to, such children are taken to social care homes, where — deprived of the warmth and care of a father and mother — they are raised alongside orphans.

The number of children without traceable lineages has been on the rise in recent years. Although not guilty of any crime, they pay the price for others’ mistakes. The greatest difficulty such children face is perhaps in marrying; this is especially the case for women. Most men, particularly those who come from decent families, simply do not want to marry women without traceable lineages.
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