Saudi Arabia has reportedly taken a step toward granting women further rights and is now allowing them to travel without the permission of a guardian.
Saudi Arabia’s government press agency SPA announced Tuesday that there are a number of recent royal decrees that approved major changes for women on travel and family matters, Reuters reported.
The regulatory changes stipulate that a Saudi passport would be issued to any citizen who applies for one and that any person over the age of 21, regardless of gender, no longer needs permission to travel.
The decrees also give women the right to register childbirth, marriage, and divorce and also permits women to be issued official family documents and act as a guardian to children.
“The passports and civil status departments and their branches in all regions of the kingdom have started to implement the amendments stipulated in the royal decree,” an interior ministry source said.
The kingdom, which abides by a form of Sharia law, has loosened restrictions in recent years. Last year, Saudi Arabia began issuing driver’s licenses to women for the first time and lifted its ban on women driving.
