Bethany Al Haidiri is a PhD researcher at the Irish Centre for Human Rights and Saudi officer at Freedom Initiative, a US human rights organisation focusing on political prisoners in the Arab World. Bethany has spent most of her adult life working in countries throughout Africa and the Middle East and has published numerous articles on the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia where she lived herself for 8 years.

In today’s episode, Bethany will talk about her own experience in the country; an experience that eventually changed her life. Starting as a teacher in a Saudi school, becoming the wife of a Saudi man and mother of a Saudi girl, Bethany will talk about the double discrimination she faced in the Saudi courts, as a woman and a foreigner. She will also expose the kafala system, or sponsorship system, which she interestingly compares to the male guardianship system.

Finally, Bethany’s personal experience has led her to work with women facing a similar situation  uncovering a reality made of women trapped and enslaved by its discriminatory regulations.

If you would like to know more about Bethany’s story and how you can help her and her daughter: check out her page here.

If you would like to get a better understanding or deepen your knowledge on Saudi Arabia, especially on the topic of women's rights, check out our list of recommended readings here.

Music credits: Blur And Coalesce by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.