The decrees, issued on
Wednesday, were made public before dawn on Friday in the kingdom’s official
weekly Um al-Qura gazette. It was not immediately clear if the new rules go
into effect immediately.
Women in Saudi Arabia will
no longer need the permission of a male guardian to travel, according to laws
published on Friday, in a key step towards dismantling controls that have made
women second-class citizens in their own country.
Other changes issued in the
decrees allow women to apply for passports, register a marriage, divorce or
child’s birth and be issued official family documents. It also stipulates that
a father or mother can be legal guardians of children.
Being able to obtain family
documents could ease hurdles women faced in obtaining a national identity card
and enrolling their children in school.
Still in place, however,
are rules that require male consent for a woman to leave prison, exit a
domestic abuse shelter or marry. Women, unlike men, still cannot pass on
citizenship to their children and cannot provide consent for their children to
marry.
Under the kingdom’s
guardianship system, women essentially rely on the “goodwill” and whims of male
relatives to determine the course of their lives.
Friday’s move comes at a
time of increased international scrutiny of women’s status in Saudi Arabia. In
recent months, several young women have fled the country and made public pleas
for help in seeking asylum from their family and the government.
Last year, authorities
arrested many of the country’s most prominent female campaigners in a sweeping
crackdown on activists.
The country’s crown prince
and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, has sought to present himself as a
modernist reformer since being appointed heir to the throne in 2017. Critics
say the jailing of female activists under his watch and the treatment of
dissidents, including Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist who was murdered at the
Saudi consulate in Istanbul, suggests the regime only wants change on its
terms.
Prince Mohammed has brought
in sweeping social and economic changes, aimed partly at weaning the country
off its dependence on oil revenue. He has also dismantled some of the strictest
controls over women. Last year, a driving ban was lifted, and rules were
altered freeing women from needing permission from a male guardian to study at
university, undergo surgery or get a job.
The crown prince has also
curbed the powers of the religious police, who once pursued women they
considered immodestly dressed to check they had a guardian’s permission for their
activities. They also broke up mixed-sex gatherings.
Those changes were welcomed
by activists who say Saudi Arabia’s guardianship system has kept its women in a
legal limbo as “perpetual minors” and should be dismantled entirely.
Prince Mohammed has also
been criticised for Saudi Arabia’s role in Yemen’s brutal civil war, and his
relentless pursuit of opponents at home and abroad, most prominently of
Khashoggi. A forensic and damning UN report said the crown prince should be
investigated over the murder because there was “credible evidence” that he and
other senior officials were liable for the killing. He has denied any
involvement.
The rules, approved by King
Salman and his cabinet, allow any person 21 and older to travel abroad without
prior consent and any citizen to apply for a Saudi passport on their own.
It's nearly impossible to find educated people in this particular
ReplyDeletesubject, but you sound like you know what you're talking about!
Thanks