I wouldn't go down the what-if road. While it is obvious that human rights are a result of progressive European and American countries. But the world would be a much different place if the Europeans didn't go around colonizing. Several of the Victorian era rules imposed by the Britishers in India were regressive. They also caused communal divisions for their own gains. It's not fair to forget the evils of imperialism while basking in the grandeur of industrialization.

Women don't need permission from a man to travel, make a police complaint or study in China, India and almost everywhere else, certainly not by law like this story. I'm just saying that it is the norm in almost everywhere in the world in 2017, Saudi Arabia is an aberration.