Women in Saudi Arabia can now travel abroad without a male guardian’s permission, royal decrees has said.

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 granted the right to register childbirth, marriage or divorce.

The decision follows a series of high profile attempts by women to escape abroad from the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia has long come under scrutiny over its treatment of women in the kingdom, with activists saying they are often treated as second-class citizens.

The de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has sought to ease social restrictions 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.

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. </s> RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has allowed adult women to travel without permission and granted them more control over family matters, further eroding a heavily criticized male guardianship system at a time of heightened scrutiny over its human rights record.

A series of royal decrees published by the official gazette on Friday stipulated that a Saudi passport should be issued to any citizen who applies for it and that any person above the age of 21 does not need permission to travel.

The amendments to regulations also grant women for the first time the right to register child birth, marriage or divorce and to be issued official family documents and be eligible as a guardian to children who are minors.

Riyadh has long endured international censure over the status of women, who rights groups say are often treated as second-class citizens under rules requiring them to get the consent of a male guardian for important decisions throughout their entire lives, regardless of age.

Muna AbuSulayman, a prominent Saudi influencer and a former talk show host, took to Twitter along with thousands of Saudi women to celebrate what many described as a new era.

“A generation growing up completely free and equal to their brothers,” she said, referring to the freedom to travel.

The kingdom’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has eased social restrictions, such as lifting a driving ban for women last year, as part of a push to open up the conservative Muslim kingdom and transform the economy.

Last year’s murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi agents caused a global outcry, however, and the Gulf Arab state has been widely criticized for the arrest and alleged torture of nearly a dozen women activists.

Several high-profile cases of young women seeking asylum abroad on claims of gender-based repression have added further pressure on Riyadh over the male guardian system.

Guardianship’s status between law and custom makes it a thorny issue for Prince Mohammed, who indicated last year he favored ending the system but stopped short of endorsing its annulment.

Other parts of the system remain intact. Women still need permission from a male relative to marry or live on their own.

A hashtag calling for marriage without a guardian’s consent was among the top trending along with a hashtag thanking the crown prince and another touting the new travel rules.

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The decrees published Friday also covered employment regulations that would expand work opportunities for women, who represent a big portion of unemployed Saudis. They stipulated that all citizens have the right to work without facing any discrimination based on gender, disability or age.

Prince Mohammed unveiled an ambitious plan in 2016 to transform the economy by 2030, which envisages increasing women’s participation in the workforce to 30% from 22%.

Saudi Arabia ranked 141 of 149 countries in the 2018 Global Gender Gap, a World Economic Forum study on how women fare in economic and political participation, health and education.

Many Saudi officials say the fault lies in implementation and not government policy.

Without a codified system of law to go with the texts making up sharia, or Islamic law, the Saudi police and judiciary have long cited social customs in enforcing prohibitions on women. Many aspects of guardianship stem from informal practice.

“Mohammed bin Salman has dedicated himself to fixing what extremists broke ... This is not about openness as some call it, it is about equal rights for all,” a user called Wael tweeted.

The prince has pushed back against the religious establishment, including by arresting scores of clerics and dissidents.

FILE PHOTO: Saudi students walk at the exhibition to guide job seekers at Glowork Women's Career Fair in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia October 2, 2018. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser/File Photo

Many citizens remain wary of the fast pace of change.

“We are a Muslim community not a Western one, may God keep our daughters safe from all evils,” said Sarah, a Saudi woman in her late 40s who declined to give her surname.

“Imagine if your girls grow up and leave you and don’t return, would you be happy?” she told Reuters. </s> Saudi Arabian women will no longer require a permission from a "male guardian" to travel or obtain a passport, according to a royal decree signed by King Salman bin Abdulaziz.

The decree, issued three days ago, clearly stresses the right of every Saudi citizen to obtain a passport, and limits the need for a guardian's approval to minors only, Arab News reported late Thursday.

The decree is written in a gender-neutral manner, and does not state any restrictions specific to women.

Until now, Saudi women have had to seek permission from a male guardian - a husband, father or other male relative to obtain a passport or travel abroad.

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Since the launch of Saudi Vision 2030, the Kingdom's authorities have addressed all flaws in the system that prevented women from living their lives securely and free from unnecessary hassles.

Princess Reema bint Bandar, Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the US, on Friday morning said she was "elated" to confirm the new changes to the country's labour and civil law.

In a series of tweets, she said the amendments were "designed to elevate the status of Saudi women within our society, including granting them the right to apply for passports and travel independently", Arab News reported.

"These new regulations are history in the making. They call for the equal engagement of women and men in our society. It is a holistic approach to gender equality that will unquestionably create real change for Saudi women.

"Women have always played an integral role in our country's development, and they will continue to do so moving forward on equal footing with their male counterparts," she tweeted.

A number of international media outlets reported earlier this year that the decision to remove all restrictions on women travelling was being discussed at the highest levels of government and was due to be implemented before the end of this year.

Saudi Arabia's ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has eased restrictions in the country such as a ban on women driving as part of a big push to open up the country, the BBC reported.

In 2016, he unveiled a plan to transform the economy by 2030, with the aim of increasing women's participation in the workforce to 30 per cent from 22 per cent.

ALSO READ | Saudi Arabia becomes 1st Arab country to get FATF membership </s> Saudi Arabia allows women to travel without male 'guardian' approval

Saudi Arabia will allow women to travel abroad without approval from a male "guardian", the government said Thursday, ending a restriction that drew international censure and prompted extreme attempts to flee the kingdom.The landmark reform erodes the longstanding guardianship system that renders adult women as legal minors and allows their "guardians" -- husband, father and other male relatives -- to exercise arbitrary authority over them. The decision, following years of campaigning by activists, comes after high-profile attempts by women to escape their guardians despite a string of reforms including a historic decree last year that overturned the world's only ban on female motorists. "A passport will be granted to any Saudi national who submits an application," said a government ruling published in the official gazette Umm al-Qura.

SEE ALSO :Saudi Khashoggi murder investigation fails to address chain of command: U.N. expert

The regulation effectively allows women over the age of 21 to obtain passports and leave the country without their guardian's permission, the pro-government Okaz newspaper and other local media reported, citing senior authorities. Women in the kingdom have long required permission from their male "guardians" to marry, renew their passports or exit the country. The reform grants women greater autonomy and mobility, the pro-government Saudi Gazette newspaper said, hailing the decision as "one giant leap for Saudi women". The decision was met with jubilation on social media, with the hashtag "No guardianship over women travel" gaining traction and many posting humorous memes of women fleeing with suitcases and being chased by men. "Some women's dreams were aborted due to inability to leave the country for whatever reason... to study abroad, a work opportunity, or even flee if so desired," Saudi businesswoman Muna AbuSulayman said on Twitter.

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"This change means women are in a way in full control of their legal destiny." The changes announced Thursday also grant Saudi women what has long been a male entitlement -- the right to officially register childbirth, marriage or divorce and to be recognised as a guardian to children who are minors. - Crackdown and reform - The reform comes as Saudi Arabia faces heightened international scrutiny over its human rights record, including an ongoing trial of women activists who have long demanded that the guardianship system be dismantled. That includes Loujain al-Hathloul, a prominent rights activist who marked her 30th birthday this week in a Saudi prison, campaigners said.

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Alongside a sweeping crackdown on dissent, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- the kingdom's de facto ruler -- spearheads a wide-ranging liberalisation drive that is aimed at transforming the conservative petro-state, long criticised for its treatment of women. His reforms include the much-celebrated decision allowing women to drive in June last year, allowing women to attend soccer games alongside men and take on jobs that once fell outside the narrow confines of traditional gender roles. But while transforming the lives of many women, critics said the reforms will be cosmetic for many others until the kingdom abolishes the "guardianship" system. Some have undertaken perilous attempts to escape overseas despite the reforms. They include 18-year-old Rahaf al-Qunun, whose live-tweeted asylum plea from a Bangkok hotel in January after she fled her Saudi family drew global attention.

SEE ALSO :Travel yes, marry no - What Saudi women still can't do

Later, two Saudi sisters who sought sanctuary in Hong Kong from what they called family abuse were allowed passage to a third country that was not named for their safety. And subsequently, two other Saudi sisters fled to Georgia. The latest reform, which weakens but does not completely dismantle the guardianship system, could lead to family clashes in the deeply patriarchal society, observers warn. Saudi officials have expressed committment to fighting guardianship abuse, but have warned the system can only be dismantled piecemeal to prevent a backlash from arch-conservatives. In a one-off case last year, a Saudi court ruled in favour of a 24-year-old woman who challenged her father's decision to not let her have a passport. But until Thursday's ruling, she would have still required his permission to travel.

We are undertaking a survey to help us improve our content for you. This will only take 1 minute of your time, please give us your feedback by clicking HERE. All responses will be confidential. </s> Saudi Arabia announced a landmark change to its legal system Friday that grants women the right to work and allows them travel independently without getting permission from a male guardian. The changes aimed at empowering women in the deeply conservative society loosen the country’s “guardianship” system that restricts women to the legal status equivalent to that of minors. Women will now be able to apply for passports and travel abroad without needing their male guardian’s approval. Women will also now be able to serve as legal guardian to their children. The changes approved by the Saudi cabinet and published in the government gazette Friday also declare that “work is the right of the citizen,” formally outlawing workplace discrimination based on gender.

The changes are part of an economic and cultural overhaul by Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Last year, the women were issued drivers licenses for the first time after a ban on women driving was abolished. Under the guardianship system, all women have a male guardian, usually a husband, father or brother, that have legal authority over them. Women, for instance, still need permission from their guardian to get married or divorced, along with a host of other important personal decisions, including getting some medical procedures. Previously, women needed permission to travel and if they didn’t have a passport of their own, they were given a page in their male guardian’s passport.

“These new regulations are history in the making. They call for the equal engagement of women and men in our society,” Reema Bandar Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia’s first female ambassador to the United States said on Twitter. “These developments have been a long time coming.” </s> Change was announced as a royal decree in 2017 by Crown Prince Mohammen bin Salman

Screenshot of video posted by Wajeha al-Huwaider driving along public streets in Saudi Arabia, which was illegal in 2008. (YouTube)

It’s a landmark day for women in Saudi Arabia, who will soon be sitting in the driver’s seat after the country’s historic driving ban is lifted.

In a matter of hours, the ban on women drivers will come to an end. Women will no longer have to pay for private male chauffeurs to get around.

Saudi Arabia remained the only country in the world to have such a ban until midnight GMT.

The change was announced as a royal decree in 2017 by Crown Prince Mohammen bin Salman, about 25 years after women were arrested for driving in the central city of Riyadh in 1990.

On International Women’s Day in 2008, Wajeha al-Huwaider made international headlines when she posted a video driving alone as part of a social media campaign called Women2Drive.

READ MORE: Saudi Arabia to allow women to drive for the first time

What followed, was a culmination of years of activism by women in the ultra-conservative country.

Women were issued driver’s licenses earlier in June in preperation for the law’s amendment. Since then, many have been taking lessons to prepare for hitting the road alone.

This week, Amnesty International called the reversal of the ban a “testament to the bravery and determination” of women’s rights activists – some of whom remain detained.

“Loujain al-Hathloul, Iman al-Nafjan and Aziza al-Yousef are among eight activists still being detained in Saudi Arabia for their peaceful human rights work,” Amnesty International said in a news release.

“Some have been detained without charge for more than one month, and may face trial before the counter-terror court and up to 20 years in prison for their activism.”

The international rights group said the lifting off the ban “must now be followed by reforms to end a whole range of discriminatory laws and practices,” including ridding of the contentious guardianship system, which means women are unable to travel, engage in paid work or higher education, or marry without the permission of a male guardian.

The driving ban will be lifted at midnight in Saudi Arabia, or 2 p.m. PST.

@ashwadhwani ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.caLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. </s> Shoshana is a Verdict reporter covering global business, economics, and finance. She can be reached at shoshana.kedem@verdict.co.uk

For the first time in history, Saudi women can now join the military in security and non-combat roles.

Women in Saudi Arabia can now join the army in key cities including the capital Riyadh, and holy sites Mecca and al-Madina, if they meet 12 criteria, officials at the General Directorate of Public Security announced on Monday.

Only women aged 25-35 of Saudi origin who grew up in the Kingdom can apply said the statement, carried by Saudi Press Agency.

Applicants must also be at least 5ft (155cm) tall and “have a good weight to height ratio”, and a minimum of high school level education, state-run Saudi newspaper Saudi Gazette reported.

Female recruits must not be married to non-Saudis, must have a clean criminal record, and can have no prior experience working in any government or military institution. They must also be registered in the area which they apply for deployment.

The recruitment drive is part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 economic diversification program designed to steer the national economy away from dwindling oil revenues in the age of cheap oil, by enlisting previously excluded members of society into the economy.

In another first, the Saudi General Directorate of Passports said in early February that 107,000 female applicants had applied for 140 jobs advertised for women at airports and border crossings in the Kingdom.

As part of efforts to lift restrictions on women, a ban on women obtaining driving licenses was lifted in September 2017, while women were also permitted to attend football matches for the first time in January.

Saudi Arabia also lifted a ban on commercial cinemas that has lasted more than three decades in December.

Under Saudi Arabia’s guardianship system, women still require consent of a male guardian, typically a father, brother, uncle or husband, to undertake any major activity such as travelling, obtaining a passport, getting married or divorced or signing contracts.

In a royal decree issued in May 2017 by Saudi Arabia’s ageing monarch King Salman, women were granted the right to apply for university, take a job and undergo surgery without obtaining permission from a guardian. </s> King Salman ordered the reform in a royal decree delivered on Tuesday night, requesting that drivers’ licences be issued to women who wanted them

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Women in Saudi Arabia have been granted the right to drive, overturning a cornerstone of Saudi conservatism that had been a cause célèbre for activists demanding reforms in the fundamentalist kingdom.

�?I felt like one of my father’s songbirds, let out of its cage’: driving as a woman in Saudi Arabia Read more

King Salman ordered the reform in a royal decree delivered on Tuesday night, requesting that drivers’ licences be issued to women who wanted them.



Following the decree, women will no longer need permission from a legal guardian to get a licence and will not need a guardian in the car when they drive, said the new Saudi ambassador to Washington DC, Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz.



“I think our leadership understands our society is ready,” he told reporters.

Asked by reporters if Saudi Arabia planned to relax the guardianship laws, or take any other steps to expand women’s rights, Salman would not comment.

The US state department welcomed the move as “a great step in the right direction”.

The decision comes amid a broad reform program that last week led to women being allowed into a sports stadium for the first time.

It is the most significant change yet to a rigidly conservative social order in Saudi Arabia that has strictly demarcated gender roles, and severely limits the role of women in public life.



Earlier this month, a Saudi cleric was banned from preaching after saying that women should not be allowed to drive because their brains shrink to a quarter the size of a man’s when they go shopping.

The move had been widely anticipated amid a transformation of many aspects of Saudi society that has been branded by one senior minister as “cultural revolution disguised as economic reform”. Recent months have seen live concert performances in Riyadh – albeit to male-only audiences – while the powers of the once-omnipresent religious police have been curtailed.

Saudi Arabia had been the last country in the world in which women were banned from driving – a fact that was frequently used by critics as proof that female citizens of the kingdom were among the world’s most repressed.



The most recent campaign to allow female drivers started in Saudi Arabia about 10 years ago, and reached a peak in 2013, when several women who had sat behind the wheel on the country’s roads were briefly arrested by police.

In response to the announcement, Manal al-Sharif, who became the public face of the campaign, after she was imprisoned for driving, tweeted: “Today the last country on earth to allow women to drive … we did it.”



Loujain Hathloul, who was detained for more than two months after she tried to drive into Saudi Arabia from Dubai tweeted simply: “praise be to God.”

Strict guardianship laws, which mean that husbands or fathers can prevent their wives or daughters from leaving the home gave cover to the driving ban, which has long been accepted by many in the intensely conservative kingdom.



A committee formed by senior officials will now have 30 days to study how to implement the move.



Saudi crown prince's ascendancy gives hope of reform – but it may be premature Read more

Saudi Arabia’s new Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, had viewed allowing women to drive as a key plank of reforms, insisting that the move would lead to higher female participation in the workforce and a breakdown of gender roles that limit social interaction between men and women outside immediate family environments.

However, the Crown Prince and his father, King Salman, had feared that moving too quickly on reforms would cause anger among the clerical establishment and elements of Saudi society who adhere to rigid interpretations of Sunni Islamic teachings that have taken root in large parts of the country over more than a century.



As well as being allowed to enter the National Stadium in Riyadh on Saturday to celebrate the 87th anniversary of the founding of the kingdom, women were also allowed to attend a concert in Jeddah.

In November 1990, 47 Saudi women drove their cars around Riyadh to protest the driving ban. They faced severe punishment at the time and the campaign died away until 2008, when Wajiha Huwaider dared to drive a car around the eastern provinces, escaping arrest.

From 2011 Sharif and another woman, Najla al-Hariri, became global figureheads of a cause that drew the attention of global leaders, who had urged the kingdom to overturn the ban. </s> Saudi Arabia has arrested a number of female rights activists in the kingdom over the past days, rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Gulf Centre for Human Rights said.

In a statement issued on Saturday, US-based HWR said Saudi authorities detained seven women's rights defenders since May 15.

The women have long been advocating an end to the ban on Saudi women driving, and the abolishment of the male guardianship system, the group said.

"Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's 'reform campaign' has been a frenzy of fear for genuine Saudi reformers who dare to advocate publicly for human rights or women's empowerment," HRW Middle East Director, Sarah Leah Whitson, said in a statement.

"The message is clear that anyone expressing skepticism about the crown prince's rights agenda faces time in jail."

Among the detained women are Eman al-Nafjan, a Saudi blogger, and Lujain al-Hathloul, a women right's activist who was previously arrested for 75 days for attempting to drive back into Saudi Arabia from neighbouring United Arab Emirates (UAE).

According to testimonies given to HRW, the women claimed the royal court had ordered them not to speak to the media last year, when the decision to reverse the long-standing ban was announced via a royal decree.

As of June 24, women will be allowed to drive for the first time in the kingdom, "in accordance with the Islamic laws".

On Friday, the Gulf Centre for Human Rights also said that "several human rights defenders were arrested".

According to them, al-Hathloul has not been able to communicate with her family or lawyer since being arrested, while al-Nafjan managed to contact her family once thus far.

Saudi Arabia has some of the world's tightest restrictions on women, despite ambitious government reforms aimed at boosting female employment.

The country's 32-year-old crown prince is believed to be behind the kingdom's lifting of the ban, which is part of a wider set of reforms being implemented as part of the Vision 2030 reform plan.

Yet, under the country's guardianship system, a male family member - normally the father, husband or brother - must grant permission for a woman's study, travel and other activities.

Saudi activists claim that the guardianship issue is at the core of the fight for women's rights.

Since 2011, nearly 30 activists and dissidents have been convicted in Saudi courts, many of whom received sentences of up to 15 years, according to HRW.
Saudi Arabia grants women the right to travel without permission from a male guardian, and expands their marriage and custodial rights in a series of royal decrees.