At last! Saudi Arabian women will be able to drive legally

There are things that should not happen in the 21st century, and one of them is that women in Saudi Arabia are forbidden to drive. The ultra-conservative mindset of the Asian country has made it the only territory in the world that does not allow such a basic right. Fortunately, this story is coming to an end. The king of the Eastern country, Salman bin Abdulaziz, has overturned the ban, and from June 2018 women will be able to drive on its roads completely legally.

With the aim of creating legislation on the matter, the Saudi monarch has set up a committee made up of the ministries of Labour, Interior, Social Development and Finance, where the main lines of a measure that must be ready by June 2018 will be defined.

Advocates of women’s rights in this country have had to fight hard to achieve this historic advance, which in no case has had the support of the whole country. A ultra-conservative sector of the Saudi population has always opposed this measure, because they consider it improper for men and women to mix in traffic. One cleric in the country went so far as to claim that “driving affects women’s pelvis and ovaries, which causes them to give birth to children with problems”, a disastrous comment that has, logically, been the subject of ridicule.

“We have really worked for this. I am very happy that we will finally be able to drive. Women and men have been demanding it for a long time on the street, in writing, in petitions to the monarch. It should have happened sooner,” these were the words of one of the defenders of women’s rights in her country, Eman al Nafjan.

<<>>
<<>>
<<>>