More Saudi Women Taking their Marriage-Blocking Male Keepers to Court

Under the practice of adhl, some women in Saudi Arabia are forced by male guardians—often their dads—to remain single. This is actually against Islamic law. Now some Saudi women are saying “fuck this,” and suing their dads.

It’s no small deal: women who challenge the practice are threatened with torture, death, and prison—all because they want to marry someone and live their lives. And the practice seems to be fairly common: though one organization called the National Society for Human Rights has heard of 30 cases of adhl this year, a university prof who runs an anti-adhl Facebook group estimates 800,000 women live under the practice. The basis for the larger number isn’t given, but considering the amount of oppression women face, it’s certainly got to be more than a few dozen.

CBS interviews a woman surgeon who also has to fork over her salary to her dad, which keeps her financially dependent on him. Stuck in place by her familial arrangement and a court system that doesn’t want to listen, she’s got no viable alternative but to deal with it and wait for the court to rule on her case—which she’s done since 2006.

Let’s just hope that if this woman ever gets her rights recognized, she doesn’t turn to online dating. Knowing she worked so hard just to meet a bunch of freaks would be a total letdown.