# data[].attributes.body
Al Jazeera. “Australia to 'Consider' Saudi Teen Rahaf Alqunun's Asylum Plea.” GCC News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 8 Jan. 2019, www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/01/australia-saudi-teen-rahaf-alqunun-asylum-plea-190108132945775.html.

Iversen, Katja. “7 Charts That Show Gender Inequality around the World.” World Economic Forum, www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/08/charts-gender-inequality-women-deliver.

Najjar, Omaima Al. “What It Means to Be a Women's Rights Activist in Saudi Arabia.” GCC News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 10 Dec. 2018, www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/means-women-rights-activist-saudi-arabia-181209132021565.html.

Perper, Rosie. “Saudi Arabian Women Can Now Drive - Here Are the Biggest Changes They've Seen in Just over a Year.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 27 June 2018, www.businessinsider.com/womens-rights-in-saudi-arabia-driving-ban-2018-3.

“Population in Saudi Arabia by Gender and Nationality 2018 | Statistic.” Statista, Statista, www.statista.com/statistics/616737/saudi-arabia-population-by-gender-and-nationality/.

“Saudi Arabia Issues First Driving Licences to Women.” BBC News, BBC, 5 June 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-44367981.

“Saudi Arabia: Allow Access to Detained Women Activists.” Human Rights Watch, 7 Dec. 2018, www.hrw.org/news/2018/12/06/saudi-arabia-allow-access-detained-women-activists.

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# data[].attributes.body
I wish that

I could do whatever

I want.

But the male guardianship system

Entrusts a woman into

A male relative’s care

The moment that little girl

Takes its first breath.

I wish that

I could make

My own decisions.

Instead if my father and brother

Making them

For me.

They believe

It’s right.

Derived from a

Holy verse-

“Men are the

Protectors and maintainers

Of women”

Why is this the truth?

Why do they have

Control?

Why must I

Do what they

Tell me?

Why can’t

I

Be

Me?

# data[].attributes.headline
Women in Saudi Arabia are finally being allowed to drive themselves around.

# data[].attributes.subject
Women in Saudi Arabia are finally being allowed to drive themselves around.

# data[].attributes.headline
A Saudi woman holds up her drivers license- one of the first issued since the driving ban was revoked.

# data[].attributes.subject
A Saudi woman holds up her drivers license- one of the first issued since the driving ban was revoked.

# data[].attributes.headline
B. How has the problem affected the community directly? 

# data[].attributes.subject
B. How has the problem affected the community directly? 

# data[].attributes.body
Women make up 49.05 percent of the population of Saudi Arabia and the way this problem has affected them in the community is that they haven’t been granted the same rights as men. Also, because women are protesting that they deserve the same rights as men, women activists are experiencing torture through electrocution and whippings and even sexual harassment by the Saudi government. One male activist, a journalist by the name of Jamal Khashoggi was even murdered for speaking out against the Saudi government’s treatment of women. This shows that the government is causing harm to the people that dare to speak out against the treatment of women and that this affects the community directly because nearly 50 percent of the people in the community are women.

# data[].attributes.headline
D. What is currently being done to address this problem?

# data[].attributes.subject
D. What is currently being done to address this problem?

# data[].attributes.body
On September 26, 2017 the driving ban was lifted. This ban was put in place to keep Saudi Arabian women from driving, and the first driver's license was issued on the 24th of June in 2018. This was important because it allowed women more freedom so that they can drive places without being reliant on a male family member. Another change that has been made is that women in Saudi Arabia are now allowed to exercise publicly. Before, women weren’t allowed to run or bike on the streets and weren’t allowed to go to the gym. Now, women’s gyms are opening up and as of 2019, women are now being allowed to compete in an international marathon, the Riyadh marathon. This shows that women are slowly beginning to receive similar rights and freedoms to men, because in the marathon, they’d be competing against men and now they are also allowed to exercise alongside men.

# data[].attributes.headline
C. Why should the rest of the world be concerned about this issue?

# data[].attributes.subject
C. Why should the rest of the world be concerned about this issue?

# data[].attributes.body
The rest of the world should be concerned about this issue because Saudi Arabian women are pleading other countries such as Australia for asylum from their families. This could lead to a dispute between nations especially when men come after the women and have them detained in other countries, because this involves the foreign authorities. When a woman flees Saudi Arabia and asks other countries for asylum and the status of a refugee, it can end up involving the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the wait for possible asylum could take months, or even years. The fact that it takes months or years to receive refugee status from a foreign nation shows that this is an important decision and takes a long time. Also, because the UNHCR is involved, it shows that this decision about sheltering a Saudi Arabian woman in Australia could upset the delicate balance between nations. This is also an issue because we don't want these negative opinions of women to spread to other parts of the world and causing other parts of the world to join in on the heavy discrimination against women.

# data[].attributes.headline
A. What is the problem and what are the root causes of the problem?

# data[].attributes.subject
A. What is the problem and what are the root causes of the problem?

# data[].attributes.body
The problem is that women in Saudi Arabia don’t have equal rights with men. The government is having women tortured and stories of past women’s protests are being buried by the government so other women won’t rebel and protest for their rights as human beings. The worst part of this problem is that the government accepts this system bent on allowing very few rights to women because it is justified by a Koranic verse, "Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because God has given the one more strength than the other, and because they support them from their means." In this case, this holy verse was used to prove that a woman should be entirely under a man’s control as opposed to another interpretation saying that men should support women and help them rise to their full potential.