The City should have nothing to do with the proposed listing of shares in Aramco by the government of Saudi Arabia, let alone stand by while the Financial Conduct Authority rigs the system to facilitate it. The Guardian, and now the Institute of Directors (Report, 2 August), have forcefully argued the investment case against such bending of the rules. But in this era of corporate social responsibility there are even more powerful reasons to reject this defiance of hard-learned regulatory lessons. The government of Saudi Arabia has an abysmal record on the everyday legal rights for women we take for granted elsewhere. Women are, for example, not allowed to drive, they need the consent of a male guardian to get a passport, or even get out of prison, and can be denied a job, or hospital treatment, without it.
This shocking denial of human rights is comparable to that suffered by black people in South Africa under apartheid. It should disqualify Aramco as an investment for any company (or person) with any pretence to a social conscience. Money talks loudly when Saudi Arabia speaks, but there is scope for all of us to make our voices heard. We invite all those who support basic legal rights for women, wherever they live, to ask their pension fund providers and banks to steer clear of Aramco shares if and when they are listed, unless Saudi Arabia has by then allowed women to drive and abolished the guardianship system.
Judith Barnes, Molly Samuel-Leport, Tamkeen Shaikh, Sofia Taveira de Sousa
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