[list_indonesia] [ppiindia] New Identity Cards: Saudi Women Find Their Feet - and Face Too
- From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <"Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@freelists.org>
- Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 18:14:46 +0100
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http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=60371&d=13&m=3&y=2005
Sunday, 13, March, 2005 (02, Safar, 1426)
New Identity Cards: Saudi Women Find Their Feet - and Face Too
Raid Qusti & Somayya Jabarti, Arab News
RIYADH, 13 March 2005 - Saudi women will no longer be faceless
identities. As of mid-2006, it will be compulsory for every Saudi woman to have
her own ID card with her face on it, terminating the age of women depending on
the current family card that only carries their names.
Hissah Al-Suwaileh, the head of Women's Civil Status Department in
Riyadh, confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News, that
Saudi women would soon no longer be using the traditional and current method of
proving their identity with the family card.
The department will now be providing separate identity cards for women,
delinking her from being just another name on the family card.
She said that an ID card for a woman had become a necessity to
verify/prove her national identity and that it would be the only card
recognized by banks and government sectors in the future. At present women are
using the family card or their passports in their dealings with banks and the
government.
"It is a necessity that must be acknowledged," said a Saudi female
employee at one of the local banks who identfied herself only as Noura. "We've
been asking clients to bring in their passports and for those who don't have
them, they've got to bring in a male guardian to verify their identities. After
all, the family card only has her name on it which in any day and age could
never be enough. The process of identification has kept pace with modern
technology as in many parts of the world with voice detectors, retina and palm
scanners being used. We however still are at point zero dealing with the photo
issue: To show or not to show!"
Al-Suwaileh, in the report, said that Saudi women are misinformed about
the requirements for ID card application. They assume that the approval of
their male guardians is a fundamental condition to obtain it.
In fact, according to Al-Suwaileh, a Saudi woman who has a valid passport
can apply and obtain her ID card without needing a male guardian. Only in the
case of a Saudi woman not owning a passport, does she need a male guardian to
verify her identity.
An official, however, told Arab News differently. "A Saudi woman's
passport without the approval of a male guardian would only suffice in the case
when she doesn't have any male guardian," said Turki Mohammad Al-Malafekh, the
director general of Jeddah Civil Status Department. "Other than that a male
guardian must come in person and apply, provide approval and verify her
identity by signing on the back of her photograph," he added.
"A Saudi woman can only obtain a passport with the consent of her male
guardian, so what's a national ID card in comparison to the license to travel?"
asked Noura Al-Ghamdi, a Saudi female applicant for an ID card at the Jeddah
Civil Status Department.
As for Saudi women with passports being able to apply for ID cards
without the need for male guardians, the official said that they had not
received any such news even after being shown Al-Suwaileh's statements as
reported in the press.
"In less than a year and a half all Saudi women must have their own ID
cards," said an official at the Ministry of Interior who preferred to remain
anonymous. "And yet the process to acquire this is something they - Saudi women
- can do on their own according to Riyadh and cannot do on their own according
to Jeddah. Which one is it to be? Saudi women ask."
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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