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09th Dec 2019

Saudi Arabia lifts ban on segregating women and men in restaurants

Rudi Kinsella

Saudi Arabia

As it stands, there are separate entrances for men and women in Saudi Arabian restaurants.

Saudi Arabia has lifted a ban that segregates women and men in restaurants, according to its government.

It had been mandatory for restaurants to have one entrance for families and women and another for men on their own but the Saudi government now says it will be left up to businesses to decide whether they want to have gender-based segregation.

The news was announced by the Saudi ministry of municipalities and rural affairs, as they attempt to ease the strict rules that have been in place in the country for years.

Earlier this year, Saudi women were allowed to travel abroad without a male guardian’s permission for the first time, and in 2018 they ended a decades-long ban on female drivers.

During the summer, a new rule came in that now allows women over the age of 21 to apply for a passport without authorisation, putting them on an equal footing with men.

Women are also being given the right to register births, marriage or divorce.

Saudi Arabia has played host to a number of major sporting events in the past 12 months, including a WWE event that held the first women’s match in the country, and Anthony Joshua’s boxing match against Andy Ruiz at the weekend.

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