(CNN) Women in Saudi Arabia will finally be allowed to hold passports and travel abroad without the consent of a male guardian, a policy shift that marks a significant loosening of the Kingdom's notorious restrictions on women.

The new amendment was approved on Thursday by the Saudi Cabinet, and will allow all Saudi women to apply for passports "like all citizens" and for women aged 21 and above to travel independently, according to a statement from the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Information.

Previously women had to gain approval from a male guardian in order to obtain a passport. Women without a passport of their own were instead given a page in their male guardians' passports, making it impossible for them to travel without guardian accompaniment -- controls rights campaigners have criticized as oppressive to women.

The Ministry of Information called the reform, which comes into effect at the end of August, part of the kingdom's "efforts to promote women's rights and empowerment, equal to men."

The past few years have seen slow progress -- women cast ballots for the first time ever in municipal elections in 2015, and at least 17 women were elected that year.

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