Saudi Women Driving

NOTE: the picture and some of the information used in this blog came from a NY Times Article titled: In a Scattered Protest, Saudi Women Take the Wheel

So once again the issue has come up in Saudi Arabia to give women the right to drive. This is an issue that has been plaguing Saudi women for a while. They want the same freedom that other women in the Middle East have when it comes to driving.

Just last Friday on June 17th, women from other countries that had valid licenses were encouraged to drive in Saudi Arabia running simple errands as an effort to protest the ban on women driving in the Kingdom. Women like Maha al-Qahtani and Manal al-shereif were brave enough to drive through cities in Saudi Arabia in protest.

“Women in Saudi Arabia see other women in the Middle East making revolutions, women in Yemen and Egypt at the forefront of revolutions, being so bold, toppling entire governments,” said Waleed Abu Alkhair, whose wife was one of the women taking part in the protest as she drove around Jeddah. “The women of Saudi Arabia looked at themselves and they realized, ‘Wow! We can’t even drive!’

The ruling family has made a black market out of the visas that male chauffeurs need to obtain in order to legally work as a driver in Saudi Arabia. The visa can cost as much as 3,000 and their salary is around $600 a month which some families in Saudi Arabia cannot afford.

Prince Talal bin Abdul-Aziz al-Saud, a member of the royal family has spoken out on women driving. He said “Bravo to the women!Why should women drive in the countryside and not in the cities?” --- In my opinion its quite interesting that women can drive in the countryside but in the cities they cannot where one could argue that driving is more crucial.

I understand Saudi Arabia is an ultraconservative country that has managed to not fall to western pressure. However, I do not think that a woman having the right to drive has anything to do with religion. It is just a backwards ideology that is meant to supposedly keep their women protected. However, it is a bit ironic that they will allow a male driver from a foreign country (usually South East Asia) who is not related to the women be employed as their driver? It does not make much sense that a complete stranger can be in the car with a woman he is not related to but a woman is unable to drive herself or her children around.

Twenty years ago, protests against the ban occurred but those women were immediately labeled as "infidels" and any women who were employed in the public sector were fired. Religious authorities issued fatwas that banned women from driving because according to them it went against a woman's dignity. That is what I find particularly interesting. Her dignity is intact when a stranger drives her around though? How is that possible?

Despite the fact that King Abdullah is more progressive than his predecessors, he still has not issued a royal decree that would allow women to drive. The NYTimes reported that $200 million was given to religious institutions in Saudi Arabia that backed the monarchy when all the revolutions started in the Middle East.

Even though the protests were not as widespread across Saudi Arabia as they could have been, word of the protests are being noted by the international community. In addition, the protest against the ban on women driving have been gaining momentum thanks to social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.