Activists welcome move to grant Saudi women driving licences
● World leaders hail surprise move ● Decree to take effect next June
Saudi Arabia’s surprise decision to grant women the right to drive in the conservative kingdom marks a significant expansion in women’s rights, but activists said yesterday it is also only the first step in a long list of demands for equality.
Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world to ban women from driving. The royal decree comes into effect next summer, but it comes nearly three decades after women began agitating for the right to drive.
As recently as 2013, dozens of women uploaded videos online of themselves behind the wheel of a car during a campaign launched by Saudi rights activists. Some videos showed families and male drivers giving women a “thumbs-ups,” suggesting many were ready for the change.
While women in other Muslim countries drove freely, the kingdom’s blanket ban attracted negative publicity. Neither Islamic law nor Saudi traffic law explicitly prohibited women from driving, but they were not issued licences and were detained if they attempted to drive.
The decision to change course and grant women licenses was praised by the White House, which said President Donald Trump views the change as “a positive step toward promoting the rights and opportunities of women in Saudi Arabia”.
The secretary-general of the United Nations Antonio Guterres described it as “an important step in the right direction.” Prime Minister Theresa May also hailed the decision, saying the empowerment of women around the world “is key to nations’ economic development.”
Prince Khaled bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington and the king’s son, said that letting women drive is a “huge step forward” and that “society is ready.”
“This is the right time to do the right thing,” he said. Women will be allowed to obtain licenses without the permission of a male relative.
Aziza Youssef, a professor at King Saud University and one of Saudi Arabia’s most vocal women’s rights activists, said women were “happy” but also that the change was “the first step in a lot of rights we are waiting for.”
“I am really excited. This is a good step forward for women’s rights,” she said.
Saudi history offers many examples of women being punished simply for operating a vehicle.
In 1990, 50 women were arrested for driving and lost their passports and their jobs. More than 20 years later, a woman was sentenced in 2011 to 10 lashes for driving, though the late King Abdullah overturned the sentence.
As recently as late 2014, two Saudi women were detained for more than two months for defying the ban on driving when one of them attempted to cross the Saudi border with a license from neighboring United Arab Emirates in an act of defiance.
The decree indicated that women will not be allowed to drive immediately. A committee will be formed to look into how to implement the new order, which is slated to take effect next June.