A recent survey found that the majority of Saudis prefer marriage at an early age. Men prefer to marry a younger wife and that the man’s jealousy might lead him to prevent his wife from working outside the home.
The study, conducted by Edrak Medical Center, was aimed at assessing the views of Saudis about marriage. About 573 male and female respondents participated in the survey, and of that number, 39 percent were men and 61 percent women.
Married respondents accounted for 42 percent of the total with 15 percent being holders of a higher academic degree, 70 percent bachelor’s and 15 percent high school diploma or less.
The results of the survey showed that 28 percent of the sample believe that the suitable age for marriage is between 21 and 25 years, against 51 percent who said it was between 26 and 30 years. About 18 percent said it was between 31 and 35 years. This translates to about 79 percent of the sample which agreed on the suitable marriage age to be between 21 and 30 years old.
“This is not strange in a society where marriage comes at an early age, and with the parents bearing all costs,” said Abdullah Al-Subaie, professor and consultant in psychiatry. He noted the different views on the right age for marriage for both males and females.
Referring to women’s work and the views of respondents, he said: “About 42 percent of the respondents said women should work at home, against 47 percent who said they did not mind their wives working outside. Only 11 percent totally rejected the idea of women working. This means that about 89 percent of the sample accept women working in general while half the sample does not object to women working.”
He added that based on the results of the survey it seemed that the economic pressures from one side, and the deep desire of Saudi women to be productive members of society and its development made the Saudi community more accepting of women working, either inside or outside the home.
“Saudi males in general think, probably out of jealousy, that women should not go outside their homes to work, while Saudi women see that it is their lawful right to work even if outside the home. Married males included in the sample were less accepting of women working probably because they have fears or they just see there is much contradiction between women working outside the home and taking care of children.”
He said on the matter of the working woman spending the money she earned, 24 percent of the sample said she has the right to spend it without the interference of the husband, while 62 percent said she can choose to participate in the expenses of the family, against 13 percent who said she must contribute to these expenses in a defined proportion.
Only 1 percent of the respondents said the wife should give all her salary to the husband so he could spend it as he sees fit.
“This means that the majority of the sample, about 66 percent, said that the wife has the right to spend her money as she sees fit, and to contribute to the expenses of the family as she chooses. This is a strong indicator that the members of Saudi society agree that the husband is responsible for the expenses and the wife is not obliged to share unless she wants to. This reflects the sense of responsibility by the Saudi male for family expenses and his reluctance or refraining from interfering with his wife’s salary,” said Al-Subaie.
-arab news-