A 2015 study found that 20% of women visiting primary care centers in Riyadh had experienced domestic violence in the past year.
[2] Women are often not permitted to use the phone or leave the house without their guardian's permission, making discrete reporting impossible for many in abusive situations.
The Ministry of Social Affairs also established the Domestic Violence Protection Programme, as well as a national hotline to report suspected cases of abuse.
[3] Domestic abuse in Saudi Arabia started to receive public attention in 2004 after a popular television presenter, Rania al-Baz, was severely beaten by her husband, and photographs of her bruised and swollen face were published in the press.
The number of reported harassment cases against women and juveniles in Saudi Arabia has reached 2,797 in one year, a newspaper stated on quoting official statistics.
[17] In a 2008 Human Rights Watch report it is noted that even if there is no law regarding a decision, the kingdom gives a heavy portion of decision-making to a woman's male guardian.
There have been cases that include a woman running the risk of facing criminal charges for having an extramarital affair if she enters the hospital to give birth without her male guardian.
Although guardianship and other forms of domestic violence are still present in Saudi Arabia, there have been several successful attempts at reform in recent years.
Recommendation (a) point 3 recommends “Take measures, including through awareness-raising campaigns, to end the practice of guardianship and abolish existing legal provisions that require a guardian’s authorization, such as those pertaining to women’s travel or access to services or employment.”[14] In 2008 by the concluding comments of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on Saudi Arabia.
[18] discussed relevant issues of male guardianship for women including personal status such as marriage, divorce and child custody.
[18] CEDAW comment that awareness campaigns should be created and that the state should produce a strict timetable with steps to ensure the modify or eliminate practices that discriminate against women in Saudi Arabia.
This case involved the highest court in Saudi Arabia overturning a decision from five years prior that ruled to annul the marriage between 36-year-old woman Fatima Azzaz and her husband.
[19] When wanting to marry it is customary in Saudi Arabia for the woman's guardian to look into the suitors' background, which Ms Azzaz's male relatives did in this case.
[19] Azzaz chose at this time to go to shelter with her infant son rather than reside in the family home with her brothers who had successfully separated her from her husband.
[19] Voice of Women leader Fawzia al Ayouni stated, "I consider this decision to be a milestone in Saudi modern history, as it loudly screams that we are all equal sons and daughters of this country…”.
[21] In the petition, Aldosari addressed King Salman and urged him to consider the impact the guardianship system had on women in terms of poverty, exploitation and domestic violence.