Saudi Arabia allows women to change marital status without permission from ‘guardian’

The authorities of Saudi Arabia announced that now women can change their name and marital status without needing the authorization of his “guardian”, as part of the reforms launched in the country to give certain rights to Saudi women.

The Civil Status Agency, dependent on the Interior Ministry, stressed that from now on, it will be necessary for women to “make an appointment online and personally contact the office to complete the procedures. Thus, he specified that women will now be able to modify data such as their name, the name of their children and their marital status from the age of 18, following certain modifications of the Civil status law, as collected by the newspaper “Saudi Gazette”.

The powerful figure of the “guardian”

In the case of women under the age of 18, it will remain parental or legal authorization of the “ guardian ” required to make the changes. Previously, these changes were allowed from the age of 15, provided that there was permission from the “guardian” of the person concerned.

Saudi Arabia’s prosecutor Saud al Moyeb announced in 2019 his intention to reconsider the ‘mehram’ or male guardian system which is imposed on every woman in Saudi Arabia to prevent abuse. Many NGOs have denounced that this practice it relegates women to the rank of second-rate citizens.

These changes are part of a reform program promoted by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman which includes the authorization for women to drive and their integration into public sector jobs from which they were excluded.

Criticism of “cosmetic measures“

Despite the reforms, women continue to face many restrictions in the country, particularly related to the way they dress and their social relationships with other men, which is why it has been reported that the measures are purely cosmetic.

Also, Bin Salmán reviews They accuse him of hiding behind symbolic gestures the same repressive policy against women that his predecessors pursued, especially as the arrests of activists demanding more rights for women continue in the country.

In fact, an anti-terrorism court was convicted last week to five years and eight months in prison for the militant Lujain al Hazlul, one of the best-known faces of the campaign to give women the right to drive and a critique of the “watchman” system.

Dominate the country wahabismo, a current belonging to the Sunni branch of Islam inspired by the teachings of Muhamad ibn Abdel Wahab, who formulated a rigorous application of the religion.