Saudi women advise on dowries

An influential all-male body in Saudi Arabia has taken the rare step of inviting women experts to discuss matters of social policy.

The Consultative Council, which advises the government, has asked 50 female academics to take part in a debate about dowries in the Kingdom.

In observance of the country's practice of gender segregation, the female experts will sit separately and join the debate via closed-circuit television.

Correspondents say many Saudi men are deferring marriage because they are unable to afford the money demanded by the parents of their prospective bride and the costs of the ceremony itself.

Increasingly extravagant dowry demands have become a major obstacle to marriage, with as many as one-and-a-half million unmarried Saudi women.

The debate will focus on why dowries requested of prospective husbands sometimes reach $50,000, despite rising unemployment among young men.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service