Saudi Arabia is one of the most restrictive countries in the world for women. They are banned from driving and must cover their entire bodies in public except for their faces and hands.
A male relative must escort them everywhere they go. And now, those same male relatives receive automatic text message alerts if they try to leave the country.
Women are banned from leaving Saudi Arabia unless they have written permission from a male relative, but even with slip in hand, a new Saudi surveillance system sends a text to her husband or male guardian if she crosses Saudi borders.
Columnist Badriya al-Bishr wrote, "The authorities are using technology to monitor women. This is technology used to serve backwardness in order to keep women imprisoned. "It would have been better for the government to busy itself with finding a solution for women subjected to domestic violence."
"The new compulsory text service, compliments of the Saudi ministry of interior, is not only a vicious reminder that Big Brother is watching me but that now he will snitch and tell my 'guardian' every time I leave the country," said Safa Alahmad to The Guardian.
"Apparently, as a Saudi woman, I don't even deserve the simplest of rights like the right to privacy. The core issue remains the same. Saudi women are viewed and treated as minors by the Saudi government. A text message doesn't change that. It's just adding insult to injury."
Most workplaces in Saudi Arabia ban women, leading to a women's unemployment rate of 30 percent, which only includes women who are looking for work but cannot find it.
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