Saudi women in the driver’s seat
In euphoric day, gender-based ban on driving ends
The world’s last remaining ban on women driving has been lifted.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi women are in the driver’s seat for the first time in their country and steering their way through busy city streets just minutes after the world’s last remaining ban on women driving was lifted Sunday.
It’s a euphoric and historic moment for women who have had to rely on their husbands, fathers, brothers and drivers to run errands, get to work, visit friends or even drop kids off at school. The ban had relegated women to the backseat, restricting when and how they move around.
But after midnight Sunday, Saudi women finally joined women around the world in being able to get behind the wheel of a car and simply drive.
“I’m speechless. I’m so excited it’s actually happening,” said Hessah alAjaji, who drove her family’s Lexus down the capital’s busy Tahlia Street after midnight.
Al-Ajaji had a U.S. driver’s license before obtaining a Saudi one and appeared comfortable at the wheel as she pulled up and parked.
For nearly three decades, outspoken Saudi women and the men who supported them had called for women to have the right to drive. They faced arrest for defying the ban as women in other Muslim countries drove freely.
Ultraconservatives in Saudi Arabia had long warned that allowing women to drive would lead to sin and expose women to harassment. Ahead of allowing women to drive, the kingdom outlawed sexual harassment with up to five years in prison as punishment.
Criticism against women driving has largely been muted since King Salman announced last year that they would be allowed to drive.
But at least 10 of the most outspoken supporters of women’s rights were arrested weeks before the ban was lifted, signaling that only the king and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, will decide the pace of change.
Many Saudis now say they support the decision allowing women to drive. But not all women are driving at once.
The majority of women in Saudi Arabia still don’t have licenses. Many haven’t had a chance to take the gender-segregated driving courses that were first offered three months ago. There’s also a waiting list of several months for the classes, which can run several hundred dollars.
Other women already own cars driven by chauffeurs and are in no rush to drive themselves.
“I will get my driver’s license, but I won’t drive because I have a driver. I am going to leave it for an emergency. It is one of my rights and I will keep it in my purse,” said Lulwa alFireiji, 60.