She may be nearly 30, but Aya* is forbidden from leaving her home in Amman, Jordan. She can’t go for lunch with her friends and has no legal right to decide where to live, work or study.
Aya’s story is common across the Middle East and north Africa, where countries including Jordan, Iran and Saudi Arabia still have laws requiring women to either “obey” their husbands, live with them or seek their permission to leave the marital home, work or travel.
“I am a prisoner at home,” says Aya. “If I go out without my family’s knowledge, they’ll lock me in my room and beat me so hard that I’ll feel pain for months. I’m threatened with death. There are so many girls like me.”
While most governments in the region say they allow women to obtain passports and travel abroad without requiring guardian permission, legislation regarding married women offers sanctions if they do so.
“It’s important to understand that violence against women doesn’t just include physical violence; it also includes restrictions on movement,” says Rothna Begum, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, which has published a new report on the topic focusing on the Middle East and north Africa (Mena) region.
“You have a spectrum of women who are controlled; some have a curfew, but other women can’t even see their friends at a cafe. You have no ability to have a social life in that respect. Women talk about their lack of agency contributing to depression; some feel so controlled they attempt suicide.”
Fifteen countries across the region still apply laws that mean women can lose their right to maintenance from their husbands if they leave the marital home, or can be punished for working or travelling without their husband’s consent. HRW included Israel in the report because it says some religious courts can have jurisdiction over marriage and divorce, and deprive women of spousal maintenance.
Moreover, in Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, women can be arrested, detained or forced to return if male guardians report that they are absent from their homes.
Lina*, 24, works remotely from her home in Amman because her father won’t allow her to leave the house. Although she makes more money than anyone in her family – $2,400 a month – Lina doesn’t know how to spend it since she can’t go out. Recently, Lina turned down a job promotion because she didn’t feel qualified.
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“I don’t think I have good social skills because I can’t go out and socialise like my brothers,” she says.
Lina’s father wouldn’t allow her to physically attend a mixed university, even though her 18-year-old brother plans to go to one.
Lina begged her father to let her enrol in an online university where in-person attendance was required only twice a month for exams; he conceded on the condition that he dropped her off and picked her up each time.
“People will try to tell you this doesn’t exist in Jordan,” says Lina. “They’ll say: Look at all the women out in public, living normal lives. But you can’t see all the women inside.
“If I get married, leave Jordan, then divorce, I’ll be out of Jordan, and my family won’t know. Then I can be free,” she says.
Jordan has the highest female literacy rate in the Mena region at nearly 98%; 56% of university students in Jordan are women. Yet it also has one of the lowest female labour force participation rates of any country in the world.
“So many girls watch their brothers go out while imprisoned at home,” says a 26-year-old woman in Amman, who asked to remain anonymous for her safety. “We feel broken. It feels like I am losing my future. I know that my life isn’t normal. I stand still, and the whole world keeps moving.”
This article was amended on 19 July 2023 to clarify that Human Rights Watch says it included Israel in the report because some religious courts can have jurisdiction over marriage and divorce, and deprive women of spousal maintenance. A graphic in which Israel was listed alongside 14 other countries “where women can face sanction if they leave the home without male guardian permission” lacked adequate context and was removed.
* Names have been changed