Saudi women’s drive for rights a long road

The kingdom continues to refuse women other more fundamental human rights

Given the extremely conservative nature of Saudi Arabian society, a change in the law that – as of yesterday – permits women to drive is hugely significant.

We may, in the West, have recently been reminded by a string of scandals that progress towards true gender equality has been much slower than was perhaps thought but, in Saudi, there is no doubt that women are wildly discriminated against by the laws of the land.

Yesterday’s change in the law was carefully stage-managed by Saudi authorities. Photo opportunities were arranged, with police handing out flowers to female drivers, while Saudi-born racing driver Aseel Alhamad drove on her home track for the first time, despite being a member of the board of the country’s motoring foundation.

Saudi Arabia has not missed the public relations potential of this development. But behind the spin, the truth is that while it may now permit them to drive, Saudi continues to refuse women other more fundamental rights.

Women in the kingdom are still not allowed to open bank accounts or obtain passports without the permission of their husbands or – in the case of unmarried women – a male relative. Women continue to require the permission of a male “guardian” if they wish to marry. And, if they wish to divorce, they require the permission of their husbands.

It is also a requirement in Saudi that women, while in public places such as restaurants and cafes, sit in family sections, away from single men, and that their clothing covers them from head to toe.

Against this reality, the decision to allow women to drive seems a tiny concession towards any kind of equality.

Those women “liberated” by the freedom to drive will still require the permission of a man to travel alone. Without the support and permission of a man, it will still remain nigh on impossible for women to drive or to obtain a car.

It is right to recognise progress towards equality wherever it is made; the change of the law in Saudi is certainly to be welcomed, but it is very far from the conclusion of necessary business in that state which has much further to travel before we can say that women there have most basic human rights.

Until women in Saudi enjoy precisely the same freedoms as men, the right for them to drive won’t make the slightest difference to most.