Saudi Arabia to allow women to drive for 1st time next year.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Women will be allowed to drive for the first time next summer in Saudi Arabia, the ultra-conservative kingdom announced Tuesday, marking a significant expansion of women’s rights in the only the country that barred them from getting behind the wheel.
While women in other Muslim countries drove freely, the kingdom’s blanket ban attracted negative publicity for years. Neither Islamic law nor Saudi traffic law explicitly prohibited women from driving, but they were not issued licenses and were detained if they attempted to drive.
Prince Khaled bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington and the king’s son, said letting women drive is a “huge step forward” and that “society is ready.”
“This is the right time to do the right thing,” he told reporters in the U.S. Women will be allowed to obtain licenses without the permission of a male relative.
The announcement came in the form of a royal decree that was reported late Tuesday by the state-run Saudi Press Agency and state TV.
“I am really excited. This is a good step forward for women’s rights,” said Aziza Youssef, a professor at King Saud University and one of Saudi Arabia’s most vocal women’s rights activists. Speaking to The Associated Press from Riyadh, she said women were “happy” but also that the change was “the first step in a lot of rights we are waiting for.”
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.
Youssef took part in numerous driving campaigns, including a widely publicized effort in 2013 when dozens of women across the kingdom uploaded videos to YouTube of themselves driving in Saudi Arabia. Some videos showed families and male drivers giving women a “thumbsups,” suggesting many were ready for the change.
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 in June 2018.
For years, the kingdom has incrementally granted women more rights and visibility, including participation in the Olympic Games in London and Rio, positions on the country’s top consultative council and the right to run and vote in local elections in 2015.
Despite these openings, Saudi women remain largely subject to the whims of men due to guardianship laws , which bar them from obtaining a passport, traveling abroad or marrying without the consent of a male relative. Women who attempt to flee abusive families have also faced imprisonment or been forced into shelters.
King Salman and his young son and heir, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, tested the waters over the weekend by allowing women into the country’s main stadium in Riyadh for annual celebrations of the nation’s founding. The stadium had previously been reserved for all-male crowds to watch sporting events.
Women and men also flooded a main street in the capital, bopping their heads to pop music as green lights flickered overhead in the color of the flag. The scene was shocking for a city in which gender segregation is strictly enforced and where women are seldom seen walking the streets, much less mixing in close quarters with males.
The 32-year-old crown prince has also opened the country to more entertainment , allowing musical concerts and even a Comic-Con event as part of a wide-ranging push to reform the economy and society. This year, the government announced that for the first time girls in public schools would be allowed to play sports and have access to physical education.
The decree stated that the majority of Muslim scholars on the country’s highest clerical council agreed that Islam allows women the right to drive.
However, many of those same ultraconservative clerics, who wield power and influence in the judiciary and education sectors, have also spoken out in the past against women driving, playing sports or entering the workforce.
Delving into the Dior archives, designer Maria Grazia Chiuri came back armed with photos of sculptress Niki de Saint Phalle — one of the few successful female artists in the male-dominated 1960s’ art world and a muse for then-Dior designer Marc Bohan.
The inspiration of this artistic trailblazer spawned Tuesday’s Dior collection at Paris Fashion Week: the Sixties fused with the spirit of women’s lib.
Boho denim flares, laceup square heel boots, Breton stripes and knee-high stockings accompanied berets and long fine scarves tied with a knot. These mixed with ‘60s optical art black-and-white checks that were used effectively in kinetic uber-mini coat dresses.
There were indeed some beautiful moments.
Saint Phalle’s colorful sculptures were evoked in a series of color-blocked, architectural “scuba” looks in cobalt blue, black, white and yellow — shapes tight around the body in the ‘60s style.
Still, it was a mixed bag at Dior, with some overly busy silhouettes — victims perhaps of Chiuri’s overly-busy archive references. Ensembles with multiple layers, sheer sections on skirts, contrasting fabrics and fastidious detailing on appliques were sometimes a little distracting. handbags looked like the playthings a child might have to emulate their mother.