Saudi Arabia Has An App That Tracks Women And Human Rights Groups Want It Gone

It wasn't long ago that this seemed incredibly futuristic, but now, we take it for granted that our phone knows exactly where we are at all times, thanks to its communications with a satellite in space.

An oil-rich kingdom on the Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia's track record regarding human rights is, shall we say, not particularly good. Western allies tend to turn a blind eye towards these abuses.

The United Nations ranked Saudi Arabia 141st out of 144 countries for gender parity. While there have been incremental changes — women were recently granted the right to drive, for instance — it's a society that largely believes in male guardianship over women.

The app, called Absher, translates to "yes, sir". It's no coincidence that it's so popular in Saudi Arabia, since it was created by a government agency — the Ministry of Interior's National Information Center.

It plays into a Saudi law regarding guardianship. In short, there must be one male guardian per Saudi woman. In practice, this means that women can't do anything official — apply for a passport, get married, work, etc. — without the consent of her male guardian.

It makes it easy for a male guardian to stop a woman from traveling where she wants to, even sending text alerts when the woman strays too far from an approved area.

"It's incredibly demeaning, insulting and humiliating for the women, and downright abusive in many cases, because you're allowing men absolute control over women's movements," Rothna Begum of Human Rights Watch told NPR.

Even though they both have vetting processes for their respective app stores, the app is still available for both. Apple CEO Tim Cook said he wasn't aware of the app, but would look into it.

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) called on Apple and Google to do the right thing and remove the app from their stores. He called their actions "unconscionable" in keeping the app available.

In a statement to the Washington Post, they called on Google and Apple to take action, saying the app "highlights the disturbing system of discrimination against women under the guardianship system and the need for genuine human rights reforms."

Because they're the major app platforms in the world, they can control access to apps — and, as American companies, they tend to be more receptive to backlashes that could hurt their valuation.

They're an incredibly powerful country, and western appeals to clean up their human rights record have fallen on deaf ears in the past. It's extremely unlikely that they'd make any changes.

This news broke a week ago, and Absher is still available (not just in Saudi Arabia, either). It remains to be seen whether the backlash grows, or if this story just fades away.

Many western countries ally themselves with Saudi Arabia for economic reasons while doing little to convince the kingdom to improve its human rights record. It's a complicated question, but what do you think is the best way to handle this kind of relationship?