Saudi women to be notified by SMS about divorce

The government of Saudi Arabia has taken a new move to stop practice of men ending their marriages without informing their wives. Women in Saudi Arabia will be now sent a text message to be informed about their new status. The new move was taken in order to prevent men who ended their marriages without informing their wives.

The Saudi ministry of Justice Tweeted, “Women in #Saudi to start receiving marital status updates via SMS”. The Saudi Courts started to send out the SMS notifications from January 6, 2019 in a step “aimed at protecting the rights of female clients, and enhancing digital transformation with more services”, according to the Ministry of Justice in a statement. The SMS notification will also include the divorce certificate number and also the name of the relevant court where the women can pick up the documentation.

Apart from the SMS notifications, women can also inquire about their marital status through the website and view the details of any probate certificates. The new move has been taken by the government as a part of the social and economic reforms known as the Vision 2030 which is being promoted by the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The reforms also include the women being given the rights to drive.

Bin Salman was considered as a reformer until a horrific murder of a local journalist Jamal Khashhoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. However, the government of Saudi denied any involvement of Bin Salman in the killing. There are various reforms as a part of the Saudi Vision 2030 which include women as the members of the nation’s Consultative Assembly. In 2015 they were also allowed to run for office in municipal elections. The Saudi state schools in 2017 started giving physical education to boys as well as girls. In the same year, men and women were allowed to attend sports events including inside sports stadiums.

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