January 7, 2012
Married Women’s Right to a Passport
My passport expires within the coming months and I had to renew it, my father explained to me that now that I am married my husband has to go and reissue one on my behalf?! Which I thought was absurd and insulting on so many levels, especially since I do most of my traveling without him to begin with!! I am 29 years old, a graduate student and a wife, and I still cannot issue my own passport to travel?! What kind of law is that? Are they afraid we might leave and never come back?! And what if we do?! Are we slaves to our husbands that we do not have the choice to travel, or leave? Oh wait, I forgot we do not have brains to think that is why a man has to make the decision for us.
I cannot believe that it is 2012 and I am writing this post, I thought women’s lib is something of the past, why are women in the Arab world still fighting for their basic RIGHTS!! The right to drive, the right to travel! Yes, not being able to travel is just as bad as not being able to drive, so Kuwaiti men stop pointing fingers at your Saudi brothers and look at your own laws that prevent your sisters and wives from issuing their own documents after they are married. The funny thing is, my husband had to go to work late that day and put up with his angry boss just so he can finish all that is required to issue the passport, while I slept through because I had nothing to do as a student on a break!
Ok, you are probably thinking but Sara…yes there is a but! Just as I was about to start a petition to call to change this law I did some google searching to find this link to an article that states that we, in fact, had won the rights to obtain our passports without our husband’s consent…get this dated 2009!!! Then why is that law not implemented yet?! What is wrong with us? Why issue all these laws and just forget about them! The next time I issue my passport, I will be doing it on my own, and if anyone says no I will have clear documents that says I have the right to do so!
huff!!
Sara D.
