Saudi
authorities, breaking with religious codes that require women to be
accompanied by a male guardian, have decided to allow women to stay in hotels
on their own, a newspaper reported yesterday.
A royal decree allowed the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to lay down new
regulations simply requiring women to show personal identification including
a photograph, which hotel managers must register with local police, Al Watan
said.
Tribal customs and hardline religious strictures limit women's movement in
the conservative state, the only country in the world where women are
forbidden from driving. Saudi women can face harassment from the religious
police if they are not accompanied in public areas by a male relative who
acts as her "guardian".
The rules are less strictly enforced for foreigners and in Jeddah, Saudi
Arabia's most liberal city.
The paper said the rules, set out in last month's decree, were worked out in
coordination with the Ministry of the Interior and the religious police
organisation, two bodies who rights activists say stand in the way of
improved women's rights in Saudi Arabia.