Saudi women rev up motorbikes as end of decades-long driving ban nears

EVEN a year ago, it would have been hard to imagine – Saudi women clad in skinny jeans and Harley-Davidson T-shirts, revving their motorbikes at a Riyadh sports circuit.

But ahead of the historic lifting of a decades-long ban on female drivers in the ultra-conservative Islamic kingdom on June 24, women gather weekly at the privately owned Bikers Skills Institute to learn how to ride bikes.

“Biking has been a passion ever since I was a kid,” 31-year-old Noura, who declined to give her real name, said.

Overturning the world’s only ban on female drivers, long a symbol of repression against women, is the most striking reform yet launched by powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

But it has been overshadowed by a wave of arrests of female activists, including veteran campaigners who resisted the ban.

None of the women at the floodlit motoring circuit wanted to talk about the crackdown, focusing instead on securing a basic freedom long denied to them.

“I grew up watching my family riding bikes,” Noura said as she mounted a Yamaha Virago. “Now I hope to have enough skills to ride on the street.”

Next to her, revving a Suzuki, sat Leen Tinawi, 19, a Saudi-born Jordanian.

For both women, biking is not just an adrenalin-fuelled passion, but also a form of empowerment.

“I can summarise the whole experience of riding a bike in one word – freedom,” Tinawi said.

Both bikers follow their Ukrainian instructor, 39-year-old Elena Bukaryeva, who rides a Harley-Davidson.

Most days the circuit is the domain of drag racers and bike enthusiasts – all men.

But since offering courses to women in February on the basics of bike riding, four female enthusiasts have enrolled, most of them Saudis, Bukaryeva said.

“They always wanted to learn how to ride a motorcycle. And now they are saying ‘it’s my time’,” Bukaryeva said.

She echoed a catchphrase printed on the institute’s promotional material: “It’s your turn to ride.”

Asked why more women had not enrolled for the course, Bukaryeva said: “Maybe their families stop them.”

Tinawi agreed, saying she faced strong reservations from her family.

“My parents said: ‘You on a bike? You are a girl. It’s dangerous’,” she said.

The most immediate practical worry for female motorists is the dress code.

Body-shrouding abaya robes – mandatory public wear for women – are impractical while riding as their flowing hems could get caught up in the wheels. – AFP