Saudi Arabia finally allows women to have passports, travel without a man's permission

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/08/02/women-saudi-arabia-allowed-have-passports-travel-independently/1898054001/

Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY Published 6:44 a.m. ET Aug. 2, 2019 | Updated 8:09 a.m. ET Aug. 2, 2019

Women in Saudi Arabia will finally be allowed to apply for a passport and travel freely without having to secure permission from a male relative, ending a long-standing guardianship policy that gave men control over women.

The new regulation, issued Wednesday and approved Thursday by the Saudi Cabinet, won’t only just allow Saudi women to apply for passports, but also for women over the age of 21 to travel alone.

The decrees were announced early Friday morning in the kingdom’s official weekly Um al-Qura gazette. It’s not clear when the new rules will go into effect.

Other changes allow women to register a marriage, divorce or child's birth and to be issued official family documents. It also stipulates that a father or mother can be legal guardians of children.

However, still in place are rules that require male consent for a woman to leave prison, exit a domestic abuse shelter or marry. Women still cannot pass on citizenship to their children and cannot provide consent for their children to marry.

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