“We are witnessing a new era in the empowerment of Saudi women.”
Saudi women don’t need the permission of a male guardian to start their own businesses, the kingdom’s Ministry of Commerce and Investment says.
“No need for a guardian’s permission. Saudi women are free to start their own business freely,” ministry spokesman Abdul Rahman Al-Hussein said on Twitter, according to Arab News.
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Al-Hussein included the hashtag #No_Need, the paper reports.
“Women can practice all their commercial transactions in the Ministry of Commerce and Investment without a guardian or a notary,” he said.
Saudi law consultant Dima Al-Shareef told Arab News that the news was part of “a new era in the empowerment of Saudi women.”
“I believe this new approach will open the door to (women) in our homeland to highlight their talents and ideas.”
These changes come as part of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia’s ambitious post-oil economy plan which hopes to increase participation of women in the workforce and diversify the country’s industries.
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The initiative, spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, aims to make Saudi a more modern, tourist-friendly destination.
In September, the kingdom ruled that the ban on women drivers should come to an end. That change will come into action this June.
Most recently, a top Saudi cleric revealed that in his view, women should not have to wear the abaya.
“More than 90 per cent of pious Muslim women in the Muslim world do not wear abayas. So we should not force people to wear abayas,” Sheikh Abdullah Al Mutlaq, who is a member of the Council of Senior Scholars, said on his radio show.
Currently, the loose-fitting full-length robe must be worn by women in the kingdom when in public.
Images: Getty
