JEDDAH: Saudi men and women have applauded last week’s Kuwaiti decision to allow women to acquire passports and travel without their husbands’ approval.

Kuwait’s constitutional court struck down part of a 1962 law stipulating that women could only have passports and travel with their husbands’ approval. The court argued that the law violated the state’s constitution, which assures personal freedom and gender equality. The court gave its decision following the case of a Kuwaiti mother whose husband refused to allow her and her children a passport to prevent them from leaving the country.

Saudis welcomed the move and said they feel it might have repercussions elsewhere in the GCC region.

“Kuwaiti women now have the full rights that they deserve and for which they have fought for a long time,” said Samia Al-Idrissi, a businesswoman based in the Eastern Province.

“Saudi women are eligible to travel, and entitled to be responsible for themselves and the decisions that they make,” she said, adding that Saudi women are not second-class citizens.

Al-Idrissi, a prominent businesswoman, believes that since women are held accountable and able to take big decisions like men, they can handle themselves when traveling.

Speaking about the irony of Saudi widows forced to get consent to travel from their sons, she said, “The Saudi mother knows her values — If her husband is dead, then her son gives her his consent to travel.”

Ehsan Al-Ahmed, a 52 year-old mother of four and a former school principal, said that a grown up woman should have a freehand. “A married woman and a mother is conscious and mature,” she said.

She added that Kuwait trusts women to handle themselves. “When a husband signs a few papers and gives his consent for his wife to travel alone or get a passport, then who is responsible for her when she is alone in that other country,” she said.

Maha Akeel, the managing editor of The Journal, an English magazine published by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), applauded the decision, adding that it is something that should be looked into and considered.

“I believe that the court has taken the Islamic perspective on the issue into consideration as well as the human rights aspect,” said Akeel.

Saudi women are not the only ones who support Kuwait’s decision; Saudi men also expressed support. Yasin Alireza, a Jeddah-based businessman, said that women should travel wherever and whenever they please. “Women are not slaves,” said Alireza.

Faisal Al-Zahrani, a Saudi executive, also agreed with Alireza saying that women are mature enough to travel on their own.

“There should, of course, be mutual consent between a married couple, but there is no need for this to be on paper,” he added.

An imam of a mosque in Jazan said that Saudi women should, like Kuwaiti women, be allowed to travel without their husband’s consent.

The imam, who requested anonymity, said that women should be allowed to travel alone and without a paper if the couple mutually agreed to let this happen.