Saudi Arabia lifts ban – women finally allowed to drive

The long-standing ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia has finally been lifted, the New York Times reports. This comes on the back of a royal decree that was read live on state television and simultaneously aired at a press event in Washington. The decree stated that traffic laws will be amended, including to allow authorities to issue driver’s licenses “to men and women alike.”

According to Saudi leaders, the decision was to make right the ultra-conservative country’s international reputation, damaged largely by oppressive theocracy such as the draconian ban on women driving.

For the longest time, women had to be driven around or to work by their male counterparts (or relatives), whom they spent much of their salaries on. Those who defied the ruling by driving themselves were arrested and detained by authorities, and some even lost their jobs. Saudi women have lobbied for their right to drive since 1990 when the first public protest – a congregation of just 47 women – took place.

Several Saudi officials and clerics explained that it was culturally “inappropriate” for women to drive, and men wouldn’t know how to handle having women in cars next to theirs. Some even went as far as to claim that women who drive would lead to promiscuity and the collapse of the Saudi family, as well as a baseless claim that driving would harm their ovaries.

This reform, however, isn’t effective immediately, but will instead take place in June 2018 pending a 30-day window for relevant committees to provide recommendations for policing. The move is also motivated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s – the king’s 32-year-old son – long term plan to overhaul the kingdom’s economy and society.

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