Do women drivers herald a freer kingdom?
A DAY after Saudi Arabia’s rulers granted women the right to drive, Saudis and other Arabs expressed mixed emotions yesterday about the overturning of one of the kingdom’s most widely criticised restrictions on human rights.
Largely playing out in social media, most celebrated the decision as a step in the right direction. But others were cynical and noted the numerous official restrictions on Saudi women that remain in place.
Some sarcastically noted the decree was a way for the kingdom’s rulers to divert attention away from controversial issues such as human rights abuses and the war in neighbouring Yemen.
Others took a wait-and-see attitude, noting that the measures to allow women to drive would not take effect until next summer.
They expressed concern that women may need the permission of male guardians, such as a husband or brother, to actually drive, as is legally required for many decisions Saudi women make.
Still, the change may be the most visible sign yet of a modernising Saudi Arabia, with reforms implemented by the heir apparent to the Saudi throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Signed by his father, King Salman, and broadcast on state television, the decree said the “majority of senior scholars” had deemed the change legitimate under Islamic law and ordered the government ministries concerned to make whatever legal adjustments are required to implement it by June 24 next year.
The change aligns Saudi Arabia with other conservative monarchies in the Persian Gulf that have long allowed women to drive. It was unclear whether the lifting of requirements that male relatives accompany women or give permission for them to leave their homes, still implemented in much of the country, would apply to activities other than driving.
The Saudi government, which has long endured negative publicity over its restrictive domestic policies, was eager to broadcast the change. In addition to the news conference at the embassy in Washington, the Foreign Ministry contacted reporters offering to arrange calls with selected Saudi women to comment on the policy.
The Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Khaled bin Salman, said the decision was not based on religion but on social and economic considerations, and was part of the modernisation reforms being implemented by the crown prince. “There is no wrong time to do the right thing,” the ebullient ambassador said. With more women entering the workplace, “they need to drive themselves to work”.
He said the implementation delay was needed to ensure the legal and logistical environment was prepared for the change. “We have to make sure our streets are ready” for a potential doubling in traffic, he said.
Prominent female Saudi activists had spent years publicly protesting the ban, posting videos of themselves driving on Saudi roads. The videos garnered hundreds of thousands of views, and often landed the activists in jail.
Loujain al-Hathloul, who was detained for 73 days in 2014 after attempting to drive into Saudi Arabia from the United Arab Emirates, was rearrested this year and held for several days.
“Praise be to God,” Hathloul tweeted after the announcement.