Saudi government says it will allow women to drive
The move overturns one of the most widely criticized restrictions on human rights
Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s Karen DeYoung.
A royal decree issued in Riyadh on Tuesday overturns Saudi Arabia’s ban on women driving. The move addresses one of the most widely criticized restrictions on human rights.
The decree was signed by King Salman and broadcast on state television and stated that the “majority of senior scholars” had deemed the change legitimate under Sharia law. It ordered applicable government ministries to make whatever legal adjustments are required to implement it by next June.
In recent years, a number of female Saudi activists have been arrested for defying the restriction.
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.
“I am just happy that I no longer have to tell my 7-year-old to stop ogling at women driving in Europe because, yes, it’s normal and okay for women to drive,” said Loulwa Bakr, a senior financial adviser in Riyadh.
“One small pedal for Saudi women, one giant leap for womenkind,” Bakr said in a telephone interview from Riyadh.
Asma Siddiki, an educator at King Abdullah Economic City, said the issue was not the top priority for Saudi women but had become “symbolic.”
“We enjoy some rights that other celebrated democracies do not enjoy and yet everything was brushed under the all-encompassing question of the right of women to drive,” she said. “I feel ecstatic that it is about to become a moot topic.”
The Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Khaled bin Salman, who spoke at a news conference in Washington said that female drivers would not need to travel with male “guardians” or seek permission to obtain driver’s licenses. He added that women’s licenses from other countries in the region would be recognized.
The ambassador said the decision was not based on religion but on social and economic considerations, and was part of the modernization reforms being implemented by the crown prince.
“There is no wrong time to do the right thing,” the ambassador said. With more women entering the workplace, “they need to drive themselves to work.”
The government’s reform plan, introduced last year by the crown prince, is designed to diversify the oil-dependent economy. It calls for increasing the role of Saudi women, including boosting their participation in the workforce from 22 percent to 30 percent by 2030.
The change aligns Saudi Arabia with virtually every other country in the world, including other conservative monarchies in the Persian Gulf regions that have long allowed more freedom for women.
Ali al-Ahmed, director of the Institute of Gulf Affairs, a group often critical of the Saudi leadership, said the decision reflects the influence of reforms pushed by the crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman.
“This shows his stamp,” said Ahmed.
“The ban was increasingly unpopular and difficult for the ruling family to justify. It was inevitable that it would be lifted someday.”
This story has been updated since it first published.
The Washington Post’s Brian Murphy contributed to this report.
