A Rosa Parks Moment for Saudi Women

The right to drive for Saudi women is the most polarized issue in Saudi Arabia. It is one of those issues where you are: Either with us or against us. If women ever get their right, there will be a “Saudi Arabia before women driving” and a “Saudi Arabia after women driving.” Things will never ever be the same again.

And for this same reason this issue gets more resistance, it is not just about a car and a woman being alone together, no, it is about opening Pandora’s Box. Conservatives are so fearful and threatened by the idea they feel that if women ever go behind wheels, sin will be so rampant you will literally see them running loose and naked in our holy streets. It will be the Saudi Armageddon and everything has to be done in order to stop it from happening.

In Saudi Arabia, we love simplicity though, so if you want women to drive: you have no shame, you are a westernized traitor with no religious morals. On the other hand, if you don’t want women to drive: you are virtuous and Godly, you are true to your beliefs and above all, you are the man (or the woman for that matter)!

What about the government? Aren’t they going to step in and dictate what should be done? No. This time “granting the right to drive rests on the shoulders of society.” What’s that? Which shoulder are you talking about here: the left shoulder or the right shoulder?

We shouldn’t also forget about the Shura Council, or the “Poodle Parliament” as Alhamedi likes to call it. The so called council rejected to lift the ban on women driving because of a previous fatwa which prohibits women from driving cars. I feel sorry for Muhammad Al Zalfa (the council member who proposed lifting the ban), it was such a disappointed that he started mumbling: he is optimistic that the government would weigh in “since the traffic draft legislation approved by the Shura [consultative] Council on Sunday did not specifically stipulate a ban on women's driving.”

Information minister, Ayad Madani, also weighed in: He told the Jeddah Economic Forum that there was “nothing in the Saudi legislation that forbids Saudi women to apply for a driving license.” If such a request was declined, women had the right to resort to justice, he said.

It is really funny that Madani is mentioning Justice. I wish he was more specific though: which justice is he talking about?  Does that include the religious courts that give women hell in order to grant them their right to divorce? 

Well, I think that it is not up to the shoulders, ribs or any other parts of the society to put an end to this ridiculous ban: only women themselves can make the great leap forward. It is going to be achieved when they jump from the back of the car to its front and start driving. When they can’t take no more of this and have the courage to say: “My only concern was to get home after a hard day’s work.”

 

Someone has to do it.

Comments

[The Rambling Taoist]

Aya,
What you have described above is the fundamentalist aversion to change. It really doesn't matter what the issue is nor what brand of religious fundamentalism is involved. It's an age old problem that spans across various societies and civilizations.

From my perspective, as long as religion exists, so too will fundamentalist thought. There is no way to escape it. There will always be one group that holds to the "old ways" and refuses to alter their beliefs with changing times.

[Robin]

Hi Aya,
(I e-mailed you, hope you respond) I lived in Saudi Arabia from 1975-1980. The first year was in Riyadh, the last four in Dharan. Riyadh was hard, impossible to find a way to drive. My Swedish girl friend found a way though, she dressed up as a man. Boy was that a major risk. When we lived in Dharan my Saudi husband used to take me to Aramco where women CAN drive. My ex-sister-in law lived in Aramco and she could drive there. Back in the 1990's though her cousin was arrested in the famous incident in Riyadh. What a strange life.
You sound like so many of the Saudis attending school here trying to make their way only to know they have to return and live the life of every Saudi female in her country. You GO GIRL! and don't loose your enthusiasm when you return home, cause I know where it can get you. Hopefully your family is similar to my ex-inlaws and appreciates you for the well educated Saudi woman that you are. Welcome to our country and I truly hope you enjoy your stay here and take home many good memories, just as I have from your country

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[rosanana]

I think it would very difficult to remove the ban on driving in S.A. as it has no direct relation to the Quran or sharia but a way to completely control women and appease the religious stronghold in the country. The best way to keep control and declare you are pure and divine is to make womens lives more difficult and a lot of times this means looking at more and more imaginative ways to make womens lives impossible and miserable (a lot of Saudi's live abroad for long periods so it is usually the workers their who get the brunt of this) Unfortantely I think instead of removing the ban on driving this view on women is being exported everywhere so I do not beleive the ban will be removed especially as it is considered an antidote to western decadence. Instead like in England female subjugation is being sold as freedom and I do not believe women have the power to remove it at all. Their is no real solidarity beween muslim women(Sorry about the pessimism) Women who try to change the status que for the wellbeing of all women will be stopped by religious women who enjoy the kudos they get from all quarters. It takes very strong women to fight for change. In England women enjoy freedoms which they were granted as a result of the womens suffragettes movement but few give them credit whilst enjoying all the freedoms garnered through their sacrifice.

[noura]

i'm a saudi woman, and i don't want 2 drive. what's the prablem of having a driver who could drive u any place you want. it's really a joy treated like a Princes.

[Chris - Denmark]

Ban on women driving should be considered world wide... :-) I would never allow my wife driving my car.. :-)

[Marlene]

I think the problem is not being driven and feeling like a princess but the fact that you have no choice.
By always having to ask some male relative to drive you, you are not free to be alone or to go anywhere you'd like to.
I really try to see why you prefer dependence instead of independence, and I can't see the point.
Can someone tell me, please?

[Marlene]

I think the problem is not being driven and feeling like a princess but the fact that you have no choice.
By always having to ask some male relative to drive you, you are not free to be alone or to go anywhere you'd like to.
I really try to see why you prefer dependence instead of independence, and I can't see the point.
Can someone tell me, please?