Women can finally drive in Saudi Arabia

[Ryika]

I'm a bit tired and not really in the mood to create an extensive thread about this, but... come on, this is amazing and surely something to be talked about in a separate thread.

Saudi Arabia is easing restrictions on women driving, finally allowing almost half its population to get behind the wheel.

A royal decree has been issued that will allow women in the country to drive, the Saudi Foreign ministry said Tuesday on its official Twitter account.
A committee has been formed to implement the ruling and it will present recommendations within 30 days. Then the government will have until June 24, 2018, to implement the new decree.
"This is a historic big day in our kingdom," Prince Khaled bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the US, said Tuesday in a briefing with reporters.

Asked by CNN why the announcement was made now, ambassador bin Salman said, "there is no wrong time to do the right thing." He added that "it's not religious nor a cultural issue" and said women "used to use transportation means during my grandfather's era."
He said that women will not have to get permission from their male guardians to take driving lessons.

"Legally there's nothing that can prevent it," the ambassador said, but he acknowledged that "there might be social issues."

He said that the choice will be up to women. "It's not 'women must drive,' it's 'women can drive.'

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia follows a strict form of Wahhabi Islam that bans the mixing of sexes at public events and places numerous curbs on women. These restrictions are enforced by religious police whose powers the crown prince has successfully lobbied to curtail since coming to power.

In May, King Salman decreed that government agencies should list services women can seek without permission from their husbands, fathers or other male guardian. He also ordered organizations to provide transportation for female employees -- a step that eased one hurdle to women's employment given that public transportation is virtually non-existent.
Before May, women weren't able to access government services without getting permission from a male guardian or having him present.
There have also been some easing of restrictions on women's ability to work in the fields of law and education. In 2015, women were elected to municipal councils for the first time.
Members of the Saudi royal family have been signaling an easing on women's ability to drive for months now. In May, Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah, a former education minister, told a privately owned TV channel that he had "no doubt" women would one day be able to drive in his country.
When Saudi women first defied the driving ban
"Let me tell you about our leadership's view on women," he said. "Never mind driving a car, which is coming, no doubt ... I want her to drive society."
Another prominent prince, Alwaleed bin Talal, wrote a December blog post that pushed for authorities to allow women to drive, saying that the ban curtailed their rights and hurt the economy because it made it harder for women to work.

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/26/politics/saudi-arabia-woman-drive/index.html

Damn, now I almost quoted the whole article.

 

[inthesomeday]

A great victory for feminism

 

[Broken_Erika]

It's about time.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Let's all welcome Saudi Women to the 20th Century.

 

[Perfection]

Finally Saudi men will have designated drivers...

wait, nevermind...

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Let's all welcome Saudi Women to the 20th Century.

Not the 21st?

Come on, many were already in the modern era. It's the male clerics who weren't (and I predict that this isn't going to be that easy for some women; just because they legally can, that doesn't mean their family and immediate society is going to make it easy).

Question: What happens when a woman driver has to get gas for her vehicle? Do they need to train a bevy of women to staff women-only service stations? Are women allowed to become mechanics in that country? Who gets to buy the car - can a woman buy or rent a car herself, without either supervision or permission?

What will their licenses look like - face uncovered or not?

 

[Perfection]

Not the 21st?

Maybe welcoming Saudi men to the 20th century is more appropriate.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

I miss "This is great for comedy"

 

[Broken_Erika]

Maybe welcoming Saudi men to the 20th century is more appropriate.

Lets not rush things, first welcome them to the 18th century and work their way up from there.

 

[luiz]

Indeed great news, good for Saudi women, and may them continue pushing for more basic rights.

 

[BirraImperial]

 

[CKS]

Not the 21st?

Come on, many were already in the modern era. It's the male clerics who weren't (and I predict that this isn't going to be that easy for some women; just because they legally can, that doesn't mean their family and immediate society is going to make it easy).

Question: What happens when a woman driver has to get gas for her vehicle? Do they need to train a bevy of women to staff women-only service stations? Are women allowed to become mechanics in that country? Who gets to buy the car - can a woman buy or rent a car herself, without either supervision or permission?

What will their licenses look like - face uncovered or not?

Since women won't be allowed to drive until the end of June, there is plenty of time to figure this stuff out. I also expect that all of these questions will be resolved in such a way that driving is legal but not allowed, but I hope to be wrong about this.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Not the 21st?

No, Saudi Arabia will just now enter an era of female driver jokes that will last at least a hundred years.

 

[Paul in Saudi]

I am very sorry to report nobody at all is excited about this. I was sort of hoping for burning cars on the highway or something.

 

[warpus]

They probably still need a male companion each time they drive, right? Maybe I'm cynical, but I think the only reason this was approved was because the men in the country won't mind being driven around by their wives.

Wahhabism is a dangerous sect that needs to be eliminated. This move might be a step in the right direction, but it's in the grand scheme of things it's a bit laughable.

 

[ori]

Well now all is well with regards to the below, coincidentally this decision is supposed to enter into force right around the same time:

Commission on the Status of Women: The Council elected by secret ballot 13 members to four-year terms, beginning at the first meeting of the Commission’s sixty-third session in 2018 and expiring at the close of the sixty-sixth session in 2022: Algeria, Comoros, Congo, Ghana and Kenya (African States); Iraq, Japan, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan (Asia-Pacific States); and Ecuador, Haiti and Nicaragua (Latin American and Caribbean States).

 

[Arent11]

I'm a bit tired and not really in the mood to create an extensive thread about this, but... come on, this is amazing and surely something to be talked about in a separate thread.

The problem is not the laws, the problem is enforcing them. There are a lot of politicians in the islamic world that got themselves killed because they held the wrong "opinions".

 

[Peuri]

But is this really just western cultural imperialism?

 

[Birdjaguar]

I am very sorry to report nobody at all is excited about this. I was sort of hoping for burning cars on the highway or something.

Non saudis are! Maybe the women are excited, but you cannot tell because their faces are covered. Would driving while wearing a burqa impair one's vision? And what about adding sunglasses to the mix? Would they be worn over or under face coverings? This is the important stuff.

 

[Birdjaguar]

But is this really just western cultural imperialism?

Imperialism is forced upon people. Wanting things and wanting to do things that originate elsewhere is not Imperialism.