Saudi Arabia has introduced an electronic tracking system for women

Starting last week, Saudi Arabia has launched an SMS alert system for women who cross the border. When you enter the passport data of a woman at the border, the computer system automatically sends a message to her husband.

The system works automatically and a notification is sent even if the husband travels with his spouse. A woman in Saudi Arabia does not have the right to travel without her husband’s permission and does not have the right to drive a car (in 2011, the Sharia Council of Theologians stated that driving a car leads to its moral degradation).

A Saudi woman cannot cross the border without the so-called “yellow card” from her husband. The introduction of an electronic monitoring system supplements the existing rules. Now even the woman who received permission from her husband to travel abroad is tracked at the border.

Critics of the new alert system say this attitude to women violates human rights. Some joke that it would be easier to introduce every woman a microchip with a GPS transmitter so that her husband constantly monitors her whereabouts, and not just at the border.

International experts have long been concerned about the lack of civil liberties for women in Saudi Arabia. According to human rights activists, the situation of women in the country can be compared with the situation of minors. For example, every single adult woman should have a close male relative as a “guardian”. His consent is required for the employment of women, admission to an educational institution, and the provision of medical care. The behavior of women in society is monitored by the religious police (mutava).

However, in a rich country there is no mass indignation. Moreover, even objective evidence is lacking that most women would like to make a difference.