International praise greets King Salman’s decision to end driving ban for Saudi women
King Salman’s announcement that women will be allowed to drive from next June was welcomed yesterday by Saudi women and world leaders alike.
It comes days after women were allowed into a sports stadium for the first time, amid a drive for economic and social reforms led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
A member of Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council, Latifah Al Shaalan, could not hold back tears during an interview with Al Arabiya news channel.
“To tell you the truth, I can’t find the words to express my feelings and that of thousands of other women in Saudi Arabia,” Ms Al Shaalan said. “Today is an exceptional day, a historical day, a great day.”
The move was welcomed by one of the kingdom’s most high-profile businessmen, billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who said in November that lifting the ban was a matter of economic necessity as well as women’s rights.
The prince estimated that the average family spends 3,800 Saudi riyals [Dh3,721] every month on a driver, which drains family incomes.
In a tweet yesterday, the prince said his country was grateful for the “brave decision of the leadership”.
Outside of Saudi Arabia, the decision was welcomed by UN secretary general Antonio Guterres, and US president Donald Trump and his daughter, Ivanka.
Mr Trump said the move was “a positive step towards promoting the rights and opportunities of women in Saudi Arabia”, while Ivanka tweeted that it was “an important step in the right direction”.
The decision was announced on Tuesday night with a royal decree due to go into force on June 24 next year. Government ministries and departments now have 30 days to come up with policies and procedures for the decree’s implementation.
Lina Al Maeena, another member of the Shura Council, said that the rules and regulations surrounding the decision are still to be determined, but that the move is likely to lead to women’s freedom being promoted more than ever before.
Before King Salman made the decision he consulted senior scholars most of whom were in
favour of the move. The council of senior scholars, Saudi Arabia’s top council of clerics, commended the royal decree.
But they expressed reservations about the need to abide by Islamic requirements. But Bloomberg reported that some young men in Riyadh described the decision as a mistake.
Saudi official Sara Al Maeena acknowledged there were “elements that will be concerned about how it will impact society” but said “the positive response outweighs the negative”.
The decision “will increase the visibility of women in the Saudi polity and will generate further debates about the nature of Saudi society in the direction going forward”, Ms Al Maeena said.
Jane Kinninmont, a senior research fellow at Chatham House and deputy head of the British think tank’s Middle East and North Africa programme, said the decision would be welcomed “around the world” but that the response at home would be more mixed.
“This will be seen not just as an issue of equality, but as a statement about the role of religious clerics in making policy,” Ms Kinninmont said. “There
will be opponents of the move.”
Despite this, she said she expected media and most of the public discourse to be “strongly supportive” of the decision.
“The recent arrests of various high-profile clerics and activists has sent a message to the wider public that criticism of key decisions will not be tolerated in the current climate,” Ms Kinninmont said.
Women were allowed into a sports stadium on Saturday for the first time as part of the kingdom’s National Day celebrations.
Sitting alongside men in a family section of the King Fahd stadium, the event also marked a departure from earlier celebrations in Saudi Arabia, where rules were in place on public segregation of the sexes.
King Salman also issued an order easing the country’s male guardianship rules this year, allowing women to benefit from government services such as education and health care. Previously, they needed male consent to access such services.
The changes come as Crown Prince Mohammed rolls out his Vision 2030 plan for economic and social reforms, which aims to increase women’s participation in the workforce to 30 per cent from 22 per cent now.
The changes sweeping Saudi society are part of Crown Prince Mohammed’s Vision 2030 plan for economic and social reforms