Saudi Arabia To Allow Women To Travel And Obtain Passports

(PHOTO CREDIT: FAYEZ NURELDINEGETTY IMAGES)

Saudi Women Gain Rights To Travel Freely

Saudi Arabia will soon permit all citizens age 21 and older – including women – to travel by choice and independently. The changes are part of a new set of laws that end the guardianship policy that had restricted women’s freedom of travel.

Under the country’s previous legal system, women were treated as minors, requiring them to seek permission from male relatives to do a lot of things. A male guardian could be anything from a father to a husband to even a son.

Under the new laws, approved by King Salman and his cabinet, permit any adult citizen to apply for a Saudi passport on their own. Other changes published Friday permit women to register a marriage or its ending, and a child’s birth. The new rules also protect women from discrimination in the workplace and allow them to open and run a business.

Some rules requiring a man’s permission is still in places such as leaving prison, leaving a domestic abuse shelter or marrying. Women are also still unable to pass on citizenship to their children and cannot give permission to their children to marry.

These new laws make for a potential game-changer for Saudi women’s rights. The kingdom’s legal system has been criticized for years because it treated adult women like children.

By: Maytinee Kramer