Imagine a world where you had to ask your dad to go on holiday, or just a trip in the car. Or a world where you couldn’t do any work without your boyfriend’s expressed permission. Or your husband’s permission, considering you were married off as a child to a man in his forties. Well, you don’t have to imagine it because it’s reality for thousands of women in Saudi Arabia. And yet you rarely hear about it much because our government’s got huge diplomatic ties to the country.
But one person who’s spoken out about the state of affairs there is worth listening to. Swedish foreign minister Margot Wallström has condemned the country – the same one that is flogging a blogger 1,000 times for setting up a website – saying these are ‘mediaeval methods’ and a ‘cruel attempt to silence modern forms of expression.’
She also said that Sweden shouldn’t continue to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, because, well, you’re basically giving sticks to a bully. This prompted 30 chief executives to sign a letter saying that any break of the arms trade agreement they’ve got with Saudi Arabia (worth $1.3 billion, yep, you read that right, it’s the equivalent of £8.7 billion), would jeopardise Sweden’s reputation as a trade and co-operation partner. Wallström was then told off by her king, Carl XVI Gustaf.
The Saudis have a couple of things going for them; loads of oil, the support of the United Arab Emirates (that’s places like Dubai and Qatar, FYI) and the fact they’ve tipped the UK off about potential terrorist attacks.
And it seems the price to pay for all of that is letting a country have laws where women are treated worse than second class citizens, like property, or cattle.
It might be shameful for Saudi Arabia to have this sort of rule, but it's doubly shaming that a woman who's spoken against it won't be listened to by her own country.
Still, we want a foreign minister just like her, please.
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.