Saudi Arabia announces legislation to allow women drivers

Kristen Burgess, Staff Writer

Rescinding a long-established ban Saudi Arabia has had in place, the country’s government announced Sept. 26 that women are now allowed to drive. This came after years of campaigning by a movement known as “Women2Drive.”

“It’s a huge battle that was won today,” said Manal al-Sharif, the face of the campaign.

The first protest against the ban was in 1990 when 47 women drove around the capital of Saudi Arabia. Sharif was one of those women, and she claimed she was dragged from her home in the middle of the night and detained for nine days. The government released her after social pressure from the nation.

Currently, Saudi Arabia operates on guardianship laws. These policies require women to acquire permission from their spouse, father or male guardian before they can act in many facets of life outside the home. In recent years, some of these laws have been loosened, and 2015 marked the first year that women could vote in municipal elections.

Now that women can legally obtain a driver’s license, the government is requiring women to go through the Interior Ministry if they wish to drive professionally.

This change is expected to only slightly alter the current political climate in Saudi Arabia. The bigger issue arises with where the credit falls. Saudi Arabia’s next steps will set the groundwork for how the nation wishes to approach issues of modernization versus historic and religious traditions.

“If the protesters are recognized (i.e. certified) in this way, it makes them a potentially potent force in the future,” said UNCW international studies professor Dr. Masters. “If the credit goes to the government exclusively, it could lead the protest institution that formed to demobilize entirely and become a non-force.”

The situation that Masters is referring to invites concern that the campaign may continue to retaliate against the Saudi Arabian government. Were this to happen, a continued state of conflict would stay in the country.

Before Tuesday, Saudi Arabia was the only Islamic country with such a policy in place for driving. Housing Islam’s largest holiest sites like Masjid al-Haram or “The Sacred Mosque,” the nation is an absolute monarchy with Sharia Law, a conservative judicial system that relies on strict interpretations of the Quran.

“I feel like one of two things could happen from this policy,” said international studies junior McKenzie. “It could either inspire other countries to get rid of archaic laws, but because countries in the Middle East haven’t responded well to many social changes in the past, I feel like it might make Saudi Arabia a target to the surrounding countries.”

The decree is expected to come into effect June 2018.