Friday, January 17, 2003

A story released today by the Arab News reports that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is increasingly debating the phenomenon of spinsterhood, with the number of unmarried women in the Kingdom estimated to be as high as 1.5 million.

Saudis were woken up to the issue with the publication in July of the findings of a study indicating that the number of unmarried women will rise to four million within five years if no action is taken to reverse the trend.

The study, by a sociology professor at King Saud University, Dr. Abdullah Alfouzan, also revealed that there were 18,000 divorces in the Kingdom in 2001, compared to 60,000 marriages.

Some communities in different parts of the Kingdom are resorting to group marriages, occasionally sponsored by charities, to cut costs and encourage weddings. Others are seeking the services of matchmakers and the Internet. However, none of this represents a viable long-term solution to the problem, according to the study.

An economics professor at King Abdul Aziz University, Dr. Ibtisam Abdulrahman Halwani, said the issue was first noticed with Saudi women increasingly pursuing higher levels of education and at the same time refusing to marry anyone who was not wealthy. She pointed out that many Saudi men also prefer to remain single because of the prohibitively high cost of weddings.

Dr. Halwani warned that many Saudi men are looking for foreign spouses as "easy alternatives" to the financial burden of marrying Saudi women. Such marriages are neither socially nor economically viable, she argued.

As to matchmakers, Dr. Halwani said she also has reservations about this road to marriage as well. She pointed out that the matchmakers’ goal is to make money "without consideration to other essential issues such as religious and moral commitment" and social compatibility.