Does this Saudi robot citizen have more rights than women?

Meet Sophia, a robot who made her first public appearance in the Saudi city of Riyadh on Monday.
Sophia was so successful that she immediately obtained Saudi citizenship in front of delegates

at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh October 25th.

But as Sophia's images and videos began circulating on social media, many began to wonder why a robot seemed to have already gained more rights than women in the country.

** Sophia **, created by the Hong Kong company ** Hanson Robotics, ** is aimed at the public in English without the headscarf and abaya, a traditional coat that Saudi women are forced to wear in public.
'I am very honored and proud of this unique distinction. It is historic to be the first robot in the world to be recognized as a citizen. '

Saudi users hailed the development using the Arabic hashtag #Robot_with_Saudi_nationality nearly 30,000 times in the first 24 hours since the announcement.
But others have taken a more sarcastic tone. The Arabic hashtag #Sophia_calls_for_dropping_guardianship has also been circulating, and has been used nearly 10,000 times to date.
Under the Saudi guardianship system, every woman must have a male companion with her in public, usually a close family member, who has the power to act on her behalf.

'Sophia has no guardian, does not wear abaya or does not cover herself - why? 'commented a Twitter user.
While another posted a picture of the robot's face with a black scarf and a face veil drawn on it, with the caption: 'How Sophia will take take care of her after a while '.

But in addition to posts comparing Sophia to Saudi women, there was also a discussion about the ease and speed with which she had obtained citizenship.
The journalist Murtaza Hussain wrote: 'This robot got Saudi citizenship before the Kafala workers who lived in the country all their lives'.
Under Saudi law, foreign workers can not leave the country without permission from their employers - an element of the Gulf Kafala system, which limits the rights of foreign workers.

The Gulf Kingdom has hundreds of thousands of foreign domestic workers. However, there is a thriving black market for fleeing migrant workers who have fled their employers but find it impossible to leave the country due to the exit visa law.

'A humanoid robot named Sophia has obtained Saudi citizenship, while millions of people remain stateless,' said Lebanese journalist Kareem Chahayeb (https://twitter.com/chehayebk/status/923289333293084672). What time to live. '
Saudi Arabia has sought to highlight a series of reforms implemented by the Kingdom authorities.
Women were allowed to participate in the National Day of Saudi Arabia and a long-standing driving ban was lifted at the end of September. The Kingdom is also looking to diversify its economy beyond oil dependency as part of Vision 2030 of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

If it's not incredible to think about the status of women because of a robot ...