Saudi Arabia Agrees to Let Women Drive
- 7 years ago
Saudi Arabia Agrees to Let Women Drive
Many Saudis remain deeply conservative, and social strictures like the driving ban have been reinforced
over the years by the kingdom’s top clerics, many of them on the government payroll.
The ambassador, who is a son of the king, said that women would be able to drive alone but
that the Interior Ministry would decide whether they could work as professional drivers.
But in a small news conference at the Saudi embassy in Washington, an exuberant Prince Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi ambassador, said women would be able to obtain driver’s licenses
without having to ask permission of their husbands, fathers or any male guardian — despite so-called “guardianship” laws that give men power over their female relatives.
After the change on the driving ban was announced, an anonymous text circulated through What’s App in the kingdom calling
on the “virtuous ones” to work against its implementation, to protect against epidemics, adultery and other disasters.
Many Saudis remain deeply conservative, and social strictures like the driving ban have been reinforced
over the years by the kingdom’s top clerics, many of them on the government payroll.
The ambassador, who is a son of the king, said that women would be able to drive alone but
that the Interior Ministry would decide whether they could work as professional drivers.
But in a small news conference at the Saudi embassy in Washington, an exuberant Prince Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi ambassador, said women would be able to obtain driver’s licenses
without having to ask permission of their husbands, fathers or any male guardian — despite so-called “guardianship” laws that give men power over their female relatives.
After the change on the driving ban was announced, an anonymous text circulated through What’s App in the kingdom calling
on the “virtuous ones” to work against its implementation, to protect against epidemics, adultery and other disasters.