Saudi women get freedom to drive

FREEDOM DRIVE: Government officials say a decree will be issued by the end of this year, lifting a longstanding ban on women drivers. (AFP)

Women in Saudi Arabia will be allowed to get behind the wheel as the government lifts its longstanding ban on female drivers, according to a UK newspaper report.

A decree will be issued by the end of this year, the Daily Telegraph reported officials as saying.

“There has been a decision to move on this by the Royal Court because it is recognised that if girls have been in schools since the 1960s they have a capability to function behind the wheel when they grow up,” a source said, adding, “We will make an announcement soon.”

Shura Council member Mohammad Al Zulfa said the decision comes as part of King Abdullah’s reform strategy.

“When it was first raised, the extremists were really mad,” he said. “Now they just complain. It is diminishing into a form of consent.”

The decision comes after a fresh drive by activists to get the ban, in place since the establishment of the state in 1932, lifted.

A new petition was handed to King Abdullah earlier this month urging him to end the restriction, and stating the “hope that 2008 will be the year in which Saudi women obtain their natural right to drive a car”.

Women will also be allowed to stay in hotels or furnished apartments without their male guardian, marking the end to further restrictions, a local newspaper reported on Monday.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has issued a circular to hotels asking that they accept women, providing their details are sent to a police station, Al-Watan said.

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READERS' COMMENTS

Saudi Women Driving
Posted by Robyn Graves on Friday 13 November 2009 at 23:57 UAE time


Well...another year later...and we're still waiting. But...step by step Saudi has embraced modernity....in spite of the fears and threats of the minority.

Resubmitted Comment.
Posted by Hussian M, Khobar/jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday 3 February 2008 at 16:24 UAE time

Women Are not driving in Saudi Arabia at the moment as Mrs. Zakaria stated. In fact I am against women driving here, not because i have a problem with it (on the contrary I don't). Regardless of the fact my own mother is a British licence holder and drives my car in neighboring GCC countries. SHE doesn’t wish to drive here.

I'm not going to be all west vs east here. I have my own LOGICAL reasons for not wanting women to drive.

1- First of all, its our social structure, even though the government may allow it and many people will accept it with arms wide open. The hardliner majority will not. you will have hardliners issuing warrants of arrest for any woman caught behind the wheel doing her makeup, and courts will take little action against those who harass women on the roads (AND SADLY IT WILL BE WIDESPREAD). Our society isn’t mentally prepared or developed to see women drive(especially in Riyadh) where harassment will be the worst.

If however women to begin to drive soon Khobar and the east province will probably be the trail “zone”. Where people are much more accepting and educated.

2- Our traffic system: ours roads... a mess. our traffic police...incompetent, our traffic laws... 30 years out of date. When we already have an average of 3 vehicles per household I would like to ask what are we supposed to do when women start driving.... where will we park? How will we navigate our already dead roads (and we have no Salik too). People here are mostly maniacs, don't know how to use a turn signal, don't know how to respect anyone's courtesy on the road. Allowing a woman to drive on the streets of say (Jeddah) would be like throwing a ballerina into a mosh pit at a heavy metal concert.

I fear for my own life every time I get behind the wheel.
Unless our traffic laws are re-evaluated and improved, and a special forces of female traffic cops are deployed...like Dubai, I wouldn't allow any female I know to get behind the wheel out of concern for their lives.

3- The current condition for women to drive is very limited. First women must be 30 years old and have her caretaker's permission (ironic….30yr old women are deemed too old to get married for some people yet still too young to drive) And must be completely covered, so for those who don’t cover their faces… prepare to get fined…. (ridiculous I know).

In addition it does not help those who need it most, housewives under 30 who have no drivers and financial situation makes it hard to get one, single mothers, university students, divorces, widows, working women under the age of 30. Most women 30 and above will not wish to drive cause they are living their pampered lives.

Also driving times are from 6 am till 8 pm, which does not work well with women and their known shopping schedules.

Before we pull over to the side to allow women the right of passage on the lanes we need to look at our selves…. Mend our problems….sort out all the bugs and loopholes in our current traffic system.

Because frankly as we’ve all witnessed in the GULF, implementing a decision with no proper planning and preparation will definitely end up a colossal failure and will produce more negative results than the good it was meant to bring.

My feelings goes out to all those women who have to bear the brunt and live at the mercy of drivers and insane taxi drivers. Inshallah you will drive, just let things improve first.

Congratulations to the women of Saudi Arabia
Posted by Jayant, mct, Oman on Sunday 3 February 2008 at 11:46 UAE time


I can't quite understand why so many of the responses to this piece of news are polarised along east/west lines. Freedom is the right to be able to choose to do something which doesn't adversely affect anyone else - or at least that's what it should be. Driving is a basic freedom which should never have been denied to women in KSA and it's good to hear that the ban has been lifted (however, if you take note of the comment by the lady from Al Khobar the freedom has yet to be realised).

Can be sure that there will be a lot of drivers out there desperately seeking new employment.

My Comment
Posted by Hussian M, Khobar/jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday 3 February 2008 at 09:45 UAE time

I still don't understand why my comment wasn't posted. Yet I see some really ridiculous comments being accepted here.

Is it some feminist reaction to a man posting a comment from Saudi Arabia?

Editors' reply: Kindly send your comment again. It may have got lost.

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