Saudi Arabia women's rights reforms may still be thwarted by custom


  • World
  • Monday, 05 Aug 2019

FILE PHOTO: Saudi students walk at the exhibition to guide job seekers at Glowork Women's Career Fair in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia October 2, 2018. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser/File Photo

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi officials have hailed as "historic" new rights granted to women in Saudi Arabia that further dismantle its heavily criticised guardianship system, but male relatives could still find ways to thwart these freedoms.

Thousands of Saudi women took to social media to celebrate royal decrees on Friday that allow women above 21 to travel without permission as of the end of August. Women also now have the right to register births, marriages and divorces, to be issued official family documents and be guardians to minors.

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