Saudi Women Perspective of Women's Rights Advocacy

Overview: Saudi Arabia is a fundamental Muslim country. Women used to follow a rigorous traditional style of life. There is a growing women’s rights advocacy movement in Saudi Arabia against male domination over women. This study focussed on Saudi women's perspective toward advocacy for women's rights.Proposal text: There is a growing women’s rights advocacy movement in Saudi Arabia. Much of which explicitly targets the male-dominated culture that restricts Saudi women and holds them accountable to their male guardians. This qualitative exploratory study (Nf16) provides a thematic analysis of Saudi women's advocacy perspectives by focusing on the deep meaning of their expressed attitudes toward women's advocacy in Saudi Arabia. Significant findings include varying opinions of women toward women's advocacy. Women who are hurt by the male-dominant system raised concerns about being labeled as advocates. They feared being socially judged and shaming their family members for advocating against social norms and principles of Islam. These concerns lead them to use fake social media accounts to support advocates. Those who support the male-dominant system expressed their worries about the new generation being influenced by outside ideologies and abandoning their Islamic values. This small, trustworthy study supported prior work regarding proponents, opponents, and women’s fears of repercussions for advocacy. Feminist scholars, particularly Muslim women scholars, could extend this work by increasing statistical power and including women from all living generations to identify future thinking. Overall, this study provided a glimpse into the voices of 16 women who were brave enough to have the conversation.