While men and women are considered equal under the Quran, Muslim women in the twenty-first century are still being burdened by conserva­tive and patriarchal interpretations of the Quran.[943]

According to Hajjar, ‘in many contexts Sharia provides a potent justification for states to deny or limit women’s rights.’^[944] However, Gbadamosi argues that it is culture that is employed throughout the world to justify discrimination and violence against women,^[945] as opposed to religion.

While many Islamic countries have signed treaties that protect wom­en’s rights such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), many have made reservations to these treaties, limiting their scope and enforceability. Both Tunisia and Saudi Arabia have imposed reservations on core articles of CEDAW, such as articles 2, 16 and 28, on the grounds that they cannot implement CEDAW provisions if they are inconsistent with Islam or Shari’ah.^[946] The effectiveness of international treaties is thus very limited.

Tunisia, however, became the first country in the Middle East/North Africa region to lift all specific reservations to CEDAW. On 16 August 2011, the Tunisian Council of Ministers adopted a Decree to lift the reservations that limited women’s equality within their families.^[947]

An example of unfairness against women in Islamic law relates to the issue of zina, or adultery. Some Shari’ah courts have accepted the evidence of pregnancy as proof of the offence of zina, which clearly discriminates against women, as only women can be convicted on the basis of pregnancy.^[948] Zina was referred to by Santillana in 1926 as ‘any sexual relationship between a man and a woman who is not his wife or slave’.^[949] This attitude of almost a century ago illustrates the proprietary nature of women back then; they were seen as mere chattels to be owned and controlled by men. While the status of women has improved in many Muslim countries since that time, the subjection of women to men still resonates today in countries such as Saudi Arabia in the form of guardianship.

Traditionally, and as viewed by the Western media, women in Islam are oppressed and discriminated against. This external perception of Islamic law views Saudi Arabia as one of the most oppressive towards women. However, as will be demonstrated, viewed internally from within Saudi Arabia, women’s rights are advancing.