Friday, September 13, 2002
The social stigma of being over 30 and a single woman in Saudi Arabia
A story released today by the Associated Press reports that for Aisha Abdullah, one of 25 Saudi women getting married in a mass wedding, this was the day she would shed what in Saudi Arabia is still considered a serious stigma – being 40 and single.
"No one can call me a spinster anymore," said the bride in her sequined cream dress. "Every time someone used to ask me why I was still unmarried I would feel shame and embarrassment."
As Saudi Arabia gingerly tries to tackle some of the problems that have built up during decades as a strictly Muslim state, it is turning a lot of attention to what the press calls the "spinsterhood phenomenon."
According to a 2001 Planning Ministry study reported by the Saudi press, about 1.5 million Saudi women are over 30 and single in a population of 17 million Saudis and about 6 million expatriates. It gave no figures for the unmarried male population.
Some Saudis blame women for wanting to get a university education and work for a few years, taking them past the desired marriage age of 20. Others feel that Saudi men are influenced in their notion of the ideal woman by the stars they have been seeing on satellite TV in the decade it has been legal here.
