Women Should Stay Home: Saudi Children's and Adolescents' Reasoning About Husband's Authority Over Wife

This study focused on Saudi children's and adolescents' reasoning about the authority of husband over wife. Fifty-eight children and adolescents were interviewed. They were read two vignettes in which a husband asks his wife to stay home and leave work in two situations: first, a family with newborn baby and, second, a newly married couple. Participants were asked to judge the acceptability of the authority of the husband over the wife and justify their judgment. In general, children were more accepting of a husband who ordered his wife to stay home when the family had a newborn baby than in the case of a newly married couple, and boys were more accepting than girls. In regard to justifications, boys applied conventional social reasoning and girls tended to use moral reasoning. Finally, adolescents invoked moral reasoning in both situations more than children did, and children invoked pragmatic reasons more often than adolescents did.