JEDDAH — Women have welcomed the reported plans by the authorities to let divorcees and widows manage family affairs without approval from a male guardian or a court order. The Al-Riyadh Arabic newspaper said on Wednesday that the Interior Ministry will issue family identity cards not only to men, but also to divorcees and widows, granting them powers that will include accessing records, registering children for schools and authorizing medical procedures. This will also allow divorced women to include her children's names on her family cards even though they are from different fathers. Many widows and divorced women believe that implementing this decision will give them more independence and better future. "I will not benefit because I do not have children in school, but this will help the women who have school-going children or have children who need medical care. However, the regulation in general is great for women to be independent," said Amal Zuhairi, a Saudi divorced woman. Maha Mohamed, a Saudi widow, said that having family cards will give women the opportunity to prove their rights in some of the government grants. It will also help them access some government documents. Alaa Alwazeer, another Saudi woman, praised the decision, saying that women should take their decisions by themselves instead of depending on family heads. Abdulrahman, son of divorced parents who does not want to disclose his family name, said a family card will benefit him and his mother to prove that she is his mother. Athari Homod, a Saudi woman, said, "In general, the life of a divorced woman in the Arab region is harsh and difficult, especially if she has children. If the children are with the mother, she needs to prove that she is the one who takes care of them. Without a family card a divorcee will not be able to process school or office papers for her children if the father is not there." Currently, women have to get permission from a divorced husband, and apply to courts if that failed, to perform any of these basic activities. Family status cases account for 65 percent of all those before courts, Al Riyadh reported. The Ministry of Justice records showed that 28 percent of marriages in 2015 ended in divorce, according to Al-Madinah newspaper. According to ministry sources, around 161,067 marriages took place last year and 44,839 of them ended in divorce.
