From the BBC:
“Saudi Arabia allows women to
travel independently”
Women in Saudi Arabia can now
travel abroad without a male guardian's permission, royal decrees say. The new
rule announced on Friday allows women over the age of 21 to apply for a
passport without authorisation, putting them on an equal footing to men. Women are also being given the right to
register births, marriage or divorce. The
kingdom has recently eased other long-standing social restrictions on women,
though campaigners say more remains to be done for women's rights. Saudi Arabia
has increasingly come under the spotlight over its treatment of its female
citizens, an issue highlighted by several high-profile cases of Saudi women
seeking asylum abroad. The de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,
has sought to relax prohibitions on women, including lifting a driving ban last
year, in a bid to open up the conservative kingdom. But he has also cracked down on women's rights
activists, putting a number of them on trial in recent months.
What is changing?
Saudi's male guardianship system
gives husbands, fathers and other male relatives the authority to make critical
decisions about women. Until now, this
has meant women there were required to seek those relatives' permission to
obtain or renew a passport and exit the country. But the royal decrees published in the
kingdom's official weekly Um al-Qura gazette on Friday stipulate that Saudi
passports should be issued to any citizen who applies for it, and that anyone
over the age of 21 does not need permission to travel. The changes allow women
for the first time to register their children's births, as well as marriages
and divorces. They also cover employment regulations that expand work
opportunities for women. Under the rule, all citizens have the right to work
without facing any discrimination based on gender, disability or age.
How are women reacting?
Many Saudi women have taken to
Twitter to celebrate the move, with prominent influencer and talk show host
Muna AbuSulayman tweeting: "A generation growing up completely free and
equal to their brothers." The first
woman to become an envoy for the kingdom, Saudi ambassador to the US Reema bint
Bandar Al Saud, also hailed the changes: "If fully implemented [this is] a
big step in letting adult Saudi women take control of their own lives,"
Kristin Diwan from the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington DC told the AFP
news agency. Others are wary of the new reforms. Some conservatives in the
country have reacted negatively to the changes, with one woman telling Reuters
news agency: "Imagine if your girls grow up and leave you and don't
return, would you be happy?"
What restrictions remain?
Despite the latest reforms, other
parts of the guardianship system remain in place. These include women requiring
permission from a male relative to marry or live on their own, as well as leave
prison if they have been detained. They still cannot pass on citizenship to
their children, nor can they provide consent for their children to marry. Saudi
women were allowed to drive more than a year ago, but restrictions on them
remain In a bid to open up the country,
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled a plan in 2016 to transform the
economy by 2030, with the aim of increasing women's participation in the
workforce to 30% from 22%. However,
rights groups have decried his crackdown over the last year on some of the
country's leading women's rights activists who had campaigned for the right to
drive or win equal rights to men. There have been several high profile cases of
women seeking asylum in countries such as Canada, citing claims of gender
oppression. The issue hit the headlines
in January when 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun fled Saudi Arabia in a bid
to escape to Australia, but ended up in a stand-off at an airport hotel in the
Thai capital Bangkok. After international appeals for help, Canada later
granted her asylum. In March, two young Saudi sisters who had been hiding in
Hong Kong were granted humanitarian visas in a third country. In a similar case
a month later, another pair of sisters fled to Georgia after seeking
international help on Twitter and were eventually relocated to another country.
What's behind the move?
This is the biggest move so far
to dismantle the male guardianship system in Saudi Arabia. Saudi women's rights activists have fought
hard to remove the multiple restrictions on their lives - they presented a
petition to the authorities demanding change some three years ago. But the leading women involved in that
campaign are now either detained or abroad. Internationally, their efforts have
received great attention, but in Saudi Arabia itself, Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman and his advisers still seem intent on denying them any credit for the
changes. That makes reform appear to
come from the top down. For many Saudis - both men and women - this makes the
Crown Prince a hero. Outside the
Kingdom, it helps refurbish his image tarnished as it is by the killing of
Jamal Khashoggi - at a time when the Saudis are choosing to play an
increasingly visible role on the world stage. But both hardline conservatives and women's
rights activists in Saudi Arabia are united in their suspicion of Mohammed bin
Salman's motives - and their sense that this is all about his continuing
accumulation of power, whether political, financial or cultural.
^ It’s great to see Saudi Arabia
continue to enter the 21st Century. They have come so far in such a
short amount of time. Hopefully, all the restrictions will be lifted and
everyone (male or female) will be completely equal soon. ^
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