In first, woman member of Shura Council gets reserved parking spot
Shura Council Member Latifa Al Shaalan has become the first woman in Saudi Arabia to have a public parking space under her name.
“When I arrived in the Shura Council this morning, I was welcomed by women with a bouquet of roses and by men who presented to me a picture of the parking space at the Council reserved for me,” she posted on her Twitter account.
“It is a glorious day and I have been fighting back tears. I congratulate all Saudi women and I thank immensely King Salman,” said Latifa, the most prominent advocate for the right of Saudi women to drive in their country.
In her address to the Council on Wednesday, Latifa said that she could not sleep from the excitement generated by King Salman’s decision to allow women to drive in Saudi Arabia.”
Latifa blamed the Council for not following through with the motions and recommendations for the right to drive.
“The Shura Council is lagging light years behind the government and is dislocated from reality, the vision, the national transformation and the mobility of the government,” she said.
“King Salman took such a bold decision amid all these challenges and open fronts. We represent different opinions, ideas and movements, and this is normal. Let us accept our differences and always allow votes to decide without disruption or the hijacking of opinions and initiatives. The Council should shift its attention from recommendations about palm weevil, industrial cities and fruit silos to recommendations about cultural, social and human rights issues.”