Saudi marriages outside the clan have a profound effect on the kingdom's society

A mural of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and King Abdulaziz bin Saud, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia, at a park in Riyadh. Photo AFP

Saudis traditionally marry close relatives such as first and second cousins, known as consanguineous marriage. Vision 2030 is gradually making this less common due to its impact on the economic calculus of marriage – an effect that is generally absent elsewhere in the Gulf because mixed-gender public spaces have been the norm for decades.

The long-term impact on social capital is an issue that merits the attention of the kingdom’s sociologists.

To westerners, marriages in the Muslim world are commonly perceived to be “arranged”, but that is a slight mischaracterisation because in a truly arranged marriage, the prospective husband and wife have zero input into the decision. In countries such as Saudi Arabia, a more accurate description is “family-mediated” or “family-facilitated” nuptials.

A man who is mentally and financially ready to be a husband informs his mother (or some other close female relative), who then looks for a suitable potential match based on some general criteria. The nominee and her family are then given information about the suitor, such as their appearance (a photo), a CV and some character references.

If the prospective husband passes this initial screening, he is then given an opportunity to meet the prospective wife in her home with her family’s approval and oversight in accordance with Islamic principles. After this meeting, if both sides agree, they finalise terms and sign the marriage contract, making them husband and wife.

The reach and trustworthiness of close relatives is reinforced by the norm of marrying kin

In Saudi Arabia, the widespread adoption of this system typically results in consanguineous marriage for a series of reasons. The first is a simple network effect: given the quasi-formal process for identifying a potentially suitable wife, the facilitating female relative will naturally start with people who are close friends and family since she knows them best. This step could, in principle, be outsourced to third-party matchmakers, but this creates a trust and knowledge deficit, since a matchmaker doesn’t know the man as well as his mother might, rendering this a less-used option.

From the women’s side, there is a preference for close relatives because it provides a safety net. Prior to the 21st century, in some Middle Eastern countries, a woman being denied basic rights such as suffering domestic violence or being prevented from seeing her family would have potentially struggled to secure help from the authorities. Marrying within the family means that mutual relatives who have influence over an abusive husband, such as the husband’s father who might be the wife’s uncle, can deter the husband.

Moreover, there is also an altruism effect, whereby a woman perceives that a close relative is less likely to mistreat her than a complete stranger on account of the mutual affinity generated by kinship. The importance of these considerations historically was heightened by the asymmetry in economic power within married couples, as wives typically had zero or limited labour market earnings, making them economically dependent upon their husbands.

In addition to these one-sided concerns, there is also the two-sided role played by educational and cultural homogeneity within families. Large countries such as Saudi Arabia have social norms that differ considerably by region, and so marrying a cousin is more likely to result in compatibility in terms of those social norms, educational attainment and other socio-demographic traits.

Unfortunately, detailed, current data on the rate of consanguineous marriage in Saudi Arabia is not available publicly. However, if you speak to young Saudis now, there is a perceptible rise in the frequency of a modification of this traditional approach to marriage. Within the Gulf region, this evolution is unique to Saudi Arabia because the societal changes that the kingdom is witnessing in the underlying causal factors are absent elsewhere.

In recent times, instead of the female facilitator being the first filter of prospective wives for the man, the man selects a woman that he knows (often from mixed-sex offices) and informs the facilitator that he would like to start the process with that specific woman, while still maintaining adherence to Islamic principles. The remaining steps proceed as usual.

Boulevard entertainment city in the Saudi capital Riyadh. AFP

Notably, this system is yielding a lower incidence of consanguineous marriage than before due to a selection of factors.

From the men’s side, the key driver is the entry of women into the workforce in mixed-sex settings (a change that happened in other Middle Eastern countries at various points in the past). In the 1980s and 90s, the separation of sexes in public life in Saudi Arabia was very strict, meaning that there was scant opportunity for a man to get to know a prospective wife without the formal mediation of a female relative.

Today, men interact with women in the workplace, giving suitors the ability to respectfully and ethically identify potentially suitable matches themselves before entering the formal, religiously legitimate process described above. This largely neutralises the network effect that typically funnelled men into marrying their kin.

From the woman’s side, legal and economic developments have diminished the need to seek the protective effect of marrying a close relative. Again, the sharp speed of reforms in Saudi Arabia sets it aside from other countries in the region.

First, female labour force participation – and its social acceptability – has ballooned, meaning that prospective wives are much likelier than before to have an independent income. Second, the legal protections that women are provided have advanced considerably: it is much easier than before to unilaterally divorce, and to hold an abusive husband accountable through the state rather than an uncle.

If this trend continues for a decade or more, it could have a profound impact on community relations within Saudi Arabia.

Neighbourhoods and clans have typically wielded considerable social capital due to consanguineous marriage. When people are looking for help in tough times, a job when they graduate, or advice on which mechanic to use to repair their car, the first port of call has traditionally been one’s family. The reach and trustworthiness of close relatives is reinforced by the norm of marrying kin.

As this kind of nuptial becomes less common, society may begin to organise in a different way, such as educational level or job type, as people will still need to ask others for help. Saudi sociologists will have much to observe and analyse as these changes materialise.