12/05/2001

Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Under pressure to give women more rights, Saudi Arabia has begun issuing identity cards to female citizens for the first time, a government official said Wednesday.

About 2,000 women have been issued their own identity cards since the program started last month, said an official in the department responsible for the cards, speaking on condition of anonymity. The cards include a picture of the woman's uncovered face.

Previously, a Saudi women were only named, but not pictured, on a "family ID" card identifying them as dependents of their fathers or husbands. For cultural and religious reasons, Saudi women do not show any part of their bodies -- except for hands, eyes and feet -- to any men but close relatives.

The family IDs without photos had sometimes led to bank fraud through impersonations. The new photo ID cards will be used at banks.

Most Saudi women lead extremely restricted lives: they cannot drive, travel, pursue higher education or get a job without the written approval of a male guardian.

However, Saudi women run more than 1,500 businesses. Islamic law gives women strong control over money they earn, are given by family or inherit.

The new cards should be popular with businesswomen because they no longer will have to rely on a male manager, father or husband to conduct business.

Businesswomen also will be able to use banks' women-only sections, where they do not have to be veiled.

One academic said Saudi Arabia, in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, has come under increasing pressure regarding its treatment of women.

"Suddenly now it appears they are taking steps toward reform, progress that is from external pressure," said Mai Yamani, a research fellow at the London-based Royal Institute of International Affairs.

Western media have questioned whether the conservative kingdom's religious and education systems produced people like suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden, a Saudi exile. Most of the Sept. 11 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia.

Yamani said pressure also came from influential women within the ruling Al Saud family and the powerful business families in the kingdom.

The Saudi Civil Status Administration, responsible for issuing the cards, has developed procedures to prevent women's faces from being viewed by men other than close family while obtaining the cards.

A woman applying for the card must be accompanied by her husband.

However, another goal for some Saudi women -- the right to drive -- is a long way off, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef said earlier this year. Saudi Arabia is the only Gulf state to ban female drivers.