Description:
"Women across the Middle East and North Africa region face varying restrictions preventing them from moving freely in their own country and from traveling abroad without the permission of their male guardians--typically their fathers or brothers, and when married, their husbands. Women's rights activists have succeeded in winning women their freedoms in some countries, but continue to fight against old and new restrictions. The report ... is based on a comparative analysis of dozens of laws, regulations and policies, as well as information from lawyers, activists, and women. It examines 20 countries in the Middle East and North African region on whether women need to obtain their male guardian's permission for their mobility within their country, to obtain a passport, and to travel abroad. It also examines whether women can travel abroad with their children as guardians on an equal basis with men. Such discriminatory restrictions on women's freedom of movement limit women's ability to live their lives fully and enables men to control and abuse women. From leaving the home to leaving the country, these rules can also restrict women's rights to work, study, marry, provide care to their children in their child's best interests on an equal basis with men, and to escape domestic violence."--