Saudi Arabia lifts ban on female drivers

 By Kirsten Mullin
Kirsten Mullin is a senior majoring in Political Science and minoring in Economics at Haverford College. 
 
On June 23rd, 2018, thousands of Saudi women took to the roads to legally drive for the first time [1].
 
Previously, women were banned from driving in the Kingdom, the last country in the world where such limitation on female mobility still existed.  Banned from driving themselves, women had to rely on a male guardian or a chauffeur to get to and from grocery shopping, visits friends and commute to work [2]. 

 The ban was unpopular in the Kingdom, with over 90% of the population viewing its overturn positively [3]. The new crown prince of the Kingdom, Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, recently announced his plan, coined “Vision 2010” to liberalize the Kingdom.  The plan aims to reduce the Kingdom’s dependency on oil, diversify the economy, increase the tourism industry and increase the number of women in the workforce [4].
 
Lifting the driving ban is a key component of the Crown Prince’s plan for economic growth: Saudi women currently only make up 22% of the workforce and the country stands to earn massive economic gains from increasing that number.  The driving ban was a major impediment to female employment in the country; women often had difficulty making it to job interviews, commuting to and from work and the cost of male chauffeurs often took up too much of women’s salaries to make working economically worthwhile.  One estimate foresees an increase of $90 billion in Saudi Arabia’s GDP by 2030 as a result of the lift of the driving ban [5].
 
Although many have lauded the Kingdom for making improvements with regards to human rights, others, such as Amnesty International, have criticized the fact that activists were noticeably left out of the legal process.  Just weeks before the ban was officially uplifted, several women were arrested for publicly protesting the ban and cooperating with foreign media [6][7]. These women remain behind bars for driving, despite the fact that the act is now legal.  Other female activists were told by the government to remain quiet about the lifting of the ban on social media and in the press, presumably so the Crown Prince and King could take all credit for the reform [8].
 
Although the lifted ban is undoubtedly a positive improvement for the daily lives of Saudi women, they remain systematically oppressed by the strong, patriarchal Saudi government.  Based on a strict interpretation of Sharia law, the guardianship system ensures that from birth to death, women remain under the jurisdiction of a male “guardian”- a father, husband, uncle, brother or even son - and must be given permission to do things such as marry, travel or live independently.  The dangerously restrictive grasp the guardianship system has over women was demonstrated just last year when a young woman fled to the capital, Riyadh, to escape her abusive father and guardian.  Upon discovering she fled, her father filed a criminal complaint regarding her escape and she was subsequently jailed for 100 days [9]. Reforms to the guardianship system have been slow yet significant; in April the King ordered that women must be granted unlimited access to healthcare and it was recently announced that women will be allowed to obtain licence’s without a guardian’s permission, which significantly reduces barriers to women being able to exercise their newfound right to drive [10]. However, many women don’t find this sufficient.  As one Saudi national put it “we need to stop the guardianship law.  Anything else is just wasted effort.  The law prevents me from doing what I want if it does not suit my guardian, including driving [11].”
 
Despite the barriers still facing Saudi women, many are jubilant over their newly found freedom.  The day the ban was lifted, June 24th, 2018, nearly 120,000 women applied for driver’s licences. New drivers were met in the streets with cheers, honks and waves as women set out to enjoy their newfound freedom.
 
References:
[1] Al-Khamri, “Why Did Saudi Arabia Lift the Driving Ban on Women Only Now?”
[2] Van Sant, “Saudi Arabia Lifts Ban on Female Drivers.”
[3] Coker, “Saudi Women Can Drive, but Here’s the Real Roadblock.”
[4] Van Sant, “Saudi Arabia Lifts Ban on Female Drivers.”
[5] Baker, “Is the End of Saudi Arabia’s Driving Ban a Rebrand or a Revolution?”
[6] “Free Saudi Women Who Fought for the Right to Drive.”
[7] Coker, “Saudi Women Can Drive, but Here’s the Real Roadblock.”
[8] Baker, “Is the End of Saudi Arabia’s Driving Ban a Rebrand or a Revolution?”
[9] Coker, “Saudi Women Can Drive, but Here’s the Real Roadblock.”
[10] https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009511926129, “Analysis | Saudi Women Need Permission from Male Guardians for Life Choices. Will New Reforms Help End This?”
[11] Takenaga, “For Saudi Women, Challenges Go Far Beyond Driving.”
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons: User Albreeze
 
Works Cited:
Al-Khamri, Hana. “Why Did Saudi Arabia Lift the Driving Ban on Women Only Now?” Al-Jazeera, June 24, 2018.
Baker, Aran. “Is the End of Saudi Arabia’s Driving Ban a Rebrand or a Revolution?” TIME, June 28, 2018. http://time.com/longform/saudi-arabia-driving-ban-rebrand-or-revolution/.
Coker, Margaret. “Saudi Women Can Drive, but Here’s the Real Roadblock.” The New York Times, June 22, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/22/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-women-driving.html.
“Free Saudi Women Who Fought for the Right to Drive.” Accessed August 21, 2018. https://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions/free-saudi-women-who-fought-right-drive.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009511926129. “Analysis | Saudi Women Need Permission from Male Guardians for Life Choices. Will New Reforms Help End This?” Washington Post. Accessed August 21, 2018. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/05/12/saudi-women-need-permission-from-male-guardians-for-life-choices-will-new-reforms-help-end-this/.
Takenaga, Lara. “For Saudi Women, Challenges Go Far Beyond Driving.” The New York Times, June 27, 2018, sec. Reader Center. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/23/reader-center/saudi-arabia-women-drivers-license.html.
Van Sant, Shannon. “Saudi Arabia Lifts Ban on Female Drivers.” NPR, June 24, 2018. https://www.npr.org/2018/06/24/622990978/saudi-arabia-lifts-ban-on-women-drivers.
 
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