There's a new campaign in Saudi Arabia to tackle yet another form of discrimination against women – this time relating to nationality.

Saudi women who are married to foreigners do not automatically pass on Saudi nationality to their children. Their sons can acquire Saudi citizenship at the age of 18 but daughters cannot acquire it unless they marry a Saudi man.

When Saudi men marry foreigners, however, their children – both male and female – are granted Saudi citizenship at birth.

A Facebook campaign was launched earlier this month and two Saudi human rights organisations, the Human Rights Commission and the National Society for Human Rights are also seeking to change the rules.

An article in Arab News gives some examples of problems caused by the current system. Fawziyah Saad, organiser of the Facebook campaign, is a widowed mother of eight children. Her late husband was a Yemeni relative whom she had married with permission from the interior ministry.

Without Saudi citizenship, her daughters are now finding it impossible to obtain work as they grow up.

"My eldest daughter who topped her class at King Saud University was not accepted for a teaching position in the university because she was considered a foreigner. My second daughter who studied economics has not been able to find a job. After the death of my husband, I have been trying to take my daughters under my sponsorship to avoid complications but with no success so far," she told the paper.

Another Saudi woman – a single mother who is terminally ill – said she is worried about the fate of her four daughters who were all born in the kingdom and are now at university. "What will happen to my daughters after my death? Will they be deported to the country of their father of whom they know nothing?" she asked.

Judging by the Arab News report, there seems to be a fair amount of sympathy for the children of mixed marriages, though some have responded by calling for tighter restrictions against Saudi women marrying foreigners.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 20 July 2011.