Women in Saudi Arabia can now travel abroad without a male guardian’s permission, royal decrees say.
The new rule announced on Friday allows women over the age of 21 to apply for a passport without authorisation, putting them on an equal footing to men.
Women are also being given the right to register births, marriage or divorce.
The kingdom has recently eased other long-standing social restrictions on women, though campaigners say more remains to be done for women’s rights.
Saudi Arabia has increasingly come under the spotlight over its treatment of its female citizens, an issue highlighted by several high-profile cases of Saudi women seeking asylum abroad.
The de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has sought to relax prohibitions on women, including lifting a driving ban last year, in a bid to open up the conservative kingdom.
But he has also cracked down on women’s rights activists, putting a number of them on trial in recent months.
