JEDDAH — Many Saudi women welcomed the idea of allowing them have their passports without the consent of male guardians if they have individual identity cards. If approved, this will be a great step toward empowering Saudi women, they said. The Shoura Council is planning to table a proposal for discussion on whether to allow Saudi women be issued passports without the consent of their male guardians, according to informed sources. The Security Affairs Committee of the Shoura Council will soon put forward the proposal for discussion. Turkan Sharawi, a married woman in her 30s, considers it a positive step for Saudi woman. "Women need to be independent. They do not want others to process paperwork on their behalf while they sit at home doing nothing," she added. Mashael Nouh, an accountant, said, "The proposal will give women more flexibility, because sometimes the male guardian is either dead or not available. Sometimes family conditions prevent male guardians from going through the whole process of issuing passports for women." Rami Afandi, a 30-year-old Saudi male, supported the idea because it will be a great relief for men who have to spend a lot of time and energy following up on the passport issuance process. The proposal, if implemented, will help reduce work pressure at passports branches. Men also will not need to leave their work to visit passport offices. Fahad Alshareef, a businessman, said, "I think it is better to have such a regulation because it is part of women's rights." Rakan, a newly married Saudi man, believes that implementing this regulation will save a lot of time for citizens and will give women the chance to manage their affairs and personal lives. However, there are a few people who do not support this proposal. Amal Husam Aldin is against allowing women get their passports issued without male consent because she believes that the government departments take a long time and more than one day to finish paperwork, so women will have to make several visits to get their passports issued. Noha Mokhtar, another woman, said, "I support the idea of women getting their passports by themselves but only for a certain group of women such as divorcees and widows. Implementing such a regulation will give women the freedom to be responsible for themselves. Women will be more confident and be able to deal with any situation. I suffer from this issue since I am a newly widow. I need a male guardian to pursue all my paperwork."
