Saudi single women challenge tradition in love, marriage : Saudi Clerics Worry About "Spinsterhood,"

The Detroit Free Press reports:

The growing number of single women has alarmed clerics, who have responded by pushing for early marriage and warning of alleged evil consequences of "spinsterhood," such as sex outside wedlock.

During a 2005 sermon, the imam of Mecca's Grand Mosque, Abdul-Rahman As-Sudais, raised an early outcry against "the dangerous phenomenon of life-long spinsterhood," saying it endangers "the community as a whole."

Traditionally, women in Saudi Arabia are expected to be married by their early 20s. In 2011, more than 1.5 million Saudi women over 30 were single, according to the Economy and Planning Ministry.

Worries.