Finally, women in Saudi Arabia can now drive a car.
The lifting of the ban, which comes into effect next summer, is the most dramatic step yet in a campaign by the king’s son, 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to modernize the kingdom. The young royal has been promoting change as needed to boost the country’s economy and ease international criticism, but he risks a backlash from powerful clerics from the ultraconservative Wahhabi interpretation of Islam.
While women in other Muslim countries drove freely, the kingdom’s blanket ban attracted negative publicity. Neither Islamic law nor Saudi traffic law explicitly prohibited women from driving, but they were not issued licenses and were detained if they attempted to drive.
The surprise lifting of the ban late Tuesday was praised by the White House, which said President Donald Trump views the change as “a positive step toward promoting the rights and opportunities of women in Saudi Arabia.”
The secretary-general of the United Nations Antonio Guterres described it as “an important step in the right direction.” British Prime Minister Theresa May also hailed the decision, saying the empowerment of women around the world “is key to nations’ economic development.”
Prince Khaled bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington and the king’s son, said that letting women drive is a “huge step forward” and that “society is ready.”
“This is the right time to do the right thing,” he told reporters in the U.S. Women will be allowed to obtain licenses without the permission of a male relative.
In 1990, 50 women were arrested for driving and lost their passports and their jobs. More than 20 years later, a woman was sentenced in 2011 to 10 lashes for driving, though the late King Abdullah overturned the sentence.
As recently as late 2014, two Saudi women were detained for more than two months for defying the ban on driving when one of them attempted to cross the Saudi border with a license from neighboring United Arab Emirates in an act of defiance.
The decree indicated that women will not be allowed to drive immediately. A committee will be formed to look into how to implement the new order, which is slated to take effect in June 2018.
This move is seen by analysts as part of a wider Saudi Arabia’s plan to liberalize its society to compete with other gulf nations as a tourist hub. Saudi Arabia is also building a multi billion dollars island for tourism. This is part of the country’s diversification from oil.
