JEDDAH, 30 June 2003 — There are increasing complaints from women claiming that government departments refuse to recognize their ID, Al-Madinah reported. Several women told the paper the only place where their ID cards were valid were banks. “I think they refuse to accept anything but men’s faces on ID cards,” a woman said. “But if they’re not going to accept our IDs, why did they issue them in the first place?” To date, some 25,700 identity cards have been issued to women in Jeddah.