Saudi women at last to be in driver’s seat

SAUDI WOMEN will soon be allowed to drive, removing one barrier to equality in a kingdom often criticized for its stances on human and women’s rights.

King Salman issued the order on Tuesday, according to state media, which said that the decree also created a committee to implement the change.

His country has been the only one in the world to prevent women from getting behind the wheel.

The decree targets June 2018 as the date when the new drivers licenses would be available to half the country’s population, who continue to face harsh rules, including the necessity of a male chaperone when they leave the house.

One cleric in the country said in 2013 that driving could damage women’s ovaries, and another said last week that women's brains shrink to one quarter the size of a man’s because they go shopping.

Women in the country were not allowed to vote in elections until 2015.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said that the administration is “happy” with the move, which she called “a great step in the right direction for that country.”