Saudi women in drivers’ seats
BAN LIFTED: WORLD PRAISES BRAVE FEMALE ACTIVISTS WHO WERE JAILED Conservative clerics opposed move, arguing it would lead to promiscuity.
Saudi Arabia’s historic decision to allow women to drive won plaudits internationally and inside the conservative kingdom on Wednesday, as euphoria mixed with disbelief among activists who long fought the ban.
King Salman’s decree, which takes effect next June, is part of an ambitious reform push that runs the risk of a backlash from religious hardliners.
Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world to ban women driving and it was seen globally as a symbol of repression in the Gulf kingdom.
US President Donald Trump welcomed the decision as “a positive step toward promoting the rights and opportunities of women in Saudi Arabia”.
British Prime Minister Theresa May hailed it as an “important step towards gender equality”.
Saudi Arabia will use the “preparatory period” until June to expand licensing facilities and develop the infrastructure to accommodate millions of new motorists, state media said.
Conservative clerics in Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy ruled according to Islamic sharia law, have long opposed lifting the ban, arguing it would lead to promiscuity. One of them even claimed that driving harmed women’s ovaries.
The announcement on Tuesday follows decades of resistance from female activists, many of whom were jailed for flouting the ban.
“A glorious day. Can’t hold back my tears,” tweeted Latifah Alshaalan, a member of the Shura Council, which advises the Cabinet.
“Congratulations to the women of my homeland.”
Activist Manal al-Sharif, who led the 2011 “Women2Drive” protest movement, tweeted: “Today, the last country on earth to allow women to drive... we did it.”
Human rights watchdog Amnesty International said: “It is a testimony to the bravery of women activists who have been campaigning for years that ... Saudi Arabia has finally relented and decided to permit women to drive.”
“Putting women behind the wheel is the most effective way to announce to the world – and to Saudis – that the kingdom is entering a new era,” Kristin Diwan, of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, said.
“The reign of puritanical Islam is over.” – AFP