Although Saudi men can have up to four wives under Islamic law, 30% of Saudi women at marriage age cannot find husbands, official statistics revealed on Tuesday.
The study by the Saudi Ministry of Planning revealed that the number of women who have exceeded the marriage age — determined socially as 30 — reached 1 813 000 by the end of 2002.
”This phenomenon is likely to increase to four million in the next five years,” according to the study.
Marriage age in Saudi Arabia is between 18 and 30. The total number of Saudi women is seven million with married women numbering just 2 912 000.
The study showed that the highest number of unmarried women live in the holy city of Mecca, followed by the capital Riyadh and then other cities.
Observers have referred to several reasons behind the increase, including the high cost of marriage and an increase in numbers of college-educated women, in addition to the increase in unemployment.
The study said highly educated women imposed costly conditions to interested eligible men. Dowries, according to the study, can reach up to 200 000 Saudi riyals (R370).
In response to this increase, the Saudi Shura Council recommended last month the establishment of a Higher Council for Family to solve the problem.
The council’s secretary general, Hmoud bin Abdel Aziz al-Badr, said the aim of the council is to devise a general policy to help young men to get married to Saudi women.
”One of the recommendations will include urging families not to insist on a high value for a dowry as marriage expenses are already costly,” al-Badr said.
Others include organising an extensive media campaign and convincing elite members of society to resist organising expensive weddings.
The council also suggested the organisation of communal weddings financed by charity organisations or businessmen and the establishment of cooperatives selling affordable products required for marriage.
A sociology professor at the King Saud University, Abdullah al-Fawzan, described the increase of unmarried women as ”a ghost feared by every woman and family”.
In a study he conducted last year, however, Fawzan said there were 18 000 divorces in 2002 compared to 60 000 marriages. — Sapa-DPA