When we talk about the human rights of women across the Middle East and North Africa, the picture is grim: systematic denial, government‑sanctioned oppression, and a legal maze that keeps women in the shadows. The region’s diverse political systems may differ, but the pattern is the same—women’s freedoms are regularly trampled, from the press to the courtroom.
Family law in nations as varied as Iran, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia is dictated by religion‑based personal status codes. These codes treat women almost like legal minors, forever under the guardianship of male relatives. Decision‑making is deemed a male domain, and the title “head of household” automatically defaults to men. Family courts reinforce this hierarchy, often siding with male authority without question.
Below, we count down the ten most shocking, state‑sanctioned examples of gender inequality that still exist today.
10 Extreme Examples of Gender Inequality
10 Forbidden From Driving
In Saudi Arabia, women are legally barred from getting behind the wheel, and men are prohibited from driving any woman who isn’t a close relative. The kingdom now faces a logistical nightmare: 367,000 schoolgirls need transport, yet only male drivers are permitted. The Ministry of Education has resorted to recruiting “Al‑Ameen” — trustworthy men — to steer the buses. This plan feels shaky, especially after the 2002 tragedy when the religious police locked a burning girls’ school, preventing the students from escaping because their heads weren’t properly veiled. Fifteen girls perished, and the incident still haunts any discussion about who will safely drive those school buses today.
9 Forced Dress Code
Back in 2001, the militant group Lashkar‑e‑Jabar issued an edict demanding that Muslim women in Kashmir don burqas that conceal them from head to toe, threatening violence for non‑compliance. Men took it a step further, hurling acid at two women who refused to cover themselves in public. The same group forced Hindu women to wear a bindi on their foreheads and Sikh women to drape a saffron cloth over their heads, essentially policing dress based on religion and gender.
8 Divorce Disparities
Across many jurisdictions, a husband can dissolve a marriage with a simple oral repudiation, while a wife faces a labyrinth of legal and financial hurdles. In Lebanon, a battered woman cannot file for divorce on the grounds of abuse unless a third‑party witness testifies; a doctor’s certificate alone does not suffice. Egypt now allows women to initiate divorce without cause, but they must surrender all marital assets and repay their dowry—essentially buying their freedom. In Israel, a “get” – a Jewish divorce writ – can only be issued by a man to his wife, leaving women powerless if their spouse refuses.
7 Girls Education Barriers
In many Afghan regions, girls are pulled out of school once they reach puberty. Cultural notions about “proper” schooling, the aversion to co‑educational classes after third grade, and genuine security threats to girls traveling to school all combine to stall enrollment. The scarcity of female teachers—crucial because boys cannot teach girls beyond a certain age—exacerbates the problem. Although the Taliban’s fall sparked progress, women still wrestle for basic rights. Only 18 % of Afghan women aged 15‑24 can read, and while primary school enrolment climbs, the proportion of female students remains stubbornly low.
6 Travel Permission Restrictions
Husbands in Egypt and Bahrain can lodge an airport complaint that bars their wives from leaving the country for any reason. Syria permits a husband to prevent his wife’s departure, and in Iraq, Libya, Jordan, Morocco, Oman and Yemen, a married woman must secure written permission from her husband to travel abroad—permission that can be denied arbitrarily. Saudi Arabia goes further: a woman needs a written consent from her closest male relative to both leave the kingdom and ride public transport between its regions.
5 Domestic Violence and Spousal Rape Laws
Legal systems across the region often lack specific statutes to punish domestic abuse, treating it as a private family matter. Victims who approach police are commonly told to “go home.” Shelters are scarce, and spousal rape remains uncriminalized—husbands retain an absolute right to their wives’ bodies. Some penal codes even allow judges to drop rapist charges if the perpetrator agrees to marry the victim, further entrenching gendered violence.
4 Custody Denial in Bahrain
In Bahrain, where family law lacks codification, judges wield unchecked power to deny mothers custody for reasons that can appear utterly arbitrary. Courageous Bahraini women who dared expose these violations in 2003 faced slander lawsuits filed by eleven family‑court judges, illustrating how the legal apparatus can be weaponized against those who speak out.
3 Citizenship Transmission Limits
Most nations in the region—except Iran, Tunisia, Israel and, to a limited extent, Egypt—grant citizenship exclusively through the father. Women married to non‑nationals are barred from passing citizenship to their children, effectively stripping them of a fundamental right and reinforcing a patriarchal notion of nationality.
2 Criminalization of Sex Outside Marriage
In several countries, consensual adult sex outside marriage is a punishable offense. Morocco, for instance, disproportionately charges women with violating penal code prohibitions on extramarital relations, while unmarried pregnant women face heightened prosecution risk. Moreover, the Moroccan penal code treats the rape of a virgin as an aggravating circumstance, meaning the victim’s sexual history directly influences the severity of the perpetrator’s punishment.
1 Sex‑Selective Practices and Skewed Birth Ratios
China’s former one‑child policy amplified a cultural disdain for female infants, prompting abortion, neglect, abandonment and even infanticide. The result? A startling ratio of 114 boys for every 100 girls among children up to four years old—far above the natural 105‑to‑100 balance. India mirrors this tragedy: gender‑biased abortions and deliberate neglect have driven the girl‑to‑boy birth ratio down to as low as 300 girls per 1,000 boys in some regions, far below the expected 950‑to‑1,000.
These ten extreme examples illustrate how legal frameworks, cultural customs, and state policies intertwine to keep women in a subordinate position. Understanding the depth and breadth of these injustices is the first step toward meaningful change.