WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 02, 2002
Saudi women take part in dowry debate
RIYADH: Saudi women experts Monday proposed the setting up of an "authority for the Saudi family" to monitor unwanted social phenomena during a rare appearance at the Consultative Council to debate the high cost of dowries.
The women were invited to the all-male appointed advisory body, or shura, amid reports that the number of Saudi spinsters has soared to more than 1.5 million in a society of just 16 million people.
The head of the Council's Islamic Committee, Saleh al-Ali, said the women proposed that the authority should examine the reasons behind the large number of "unmarried men and women and spinsters in the kingdom ... in addition to suggesting solutions."
The debate tackled the high cost of dowries and marriage as possibly the main cause for the large number of spinsters and singles, and the role of province governors and tribal chiefs in solving this problem.
Women also proposed that the Saudi savings bank and charities help young men and women get married, and urged private firms and public establishments to set up marriage funds. They suggested that incentives, like priority in jobs, be given to those who tie the knot.
Women were not allowed to sit in the same meeting hall with men because of the strict segregation of the sexes law. They took part in the debate through closed circuit television.
The Islamic Committee will draft the outcome of the debate as a comprehensive proposal to be reviewed by the Council and then presented to the government for implementation. Dowries in the oil-rich kingdom have become expensive, with parents of girls demanding more than 200,000 riyals ($53,000) from prospective husbands.
The dowry problem has become a major obstacle to marriage in the kingdom and has been compounded by rising unemployment estimated at more than 15 percent, which has forced young men to delay marriage plans.
The Consultative Council has no legislative powers but makes recommendations to the government after discussing draft laws and important issues.
The head of the council Sheikh Mohammad bin Jubair on Monday ruled out naming women to the appointed body. ( AFP )
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