Saudi Arabia: Could the ban on women drivers be lifted?

Saleswomen check under the hood of a car at a showroom where women sell cars to women, even though they cannot drive them. AP

Hamida Ghafour

It was a tragic accident, but one that seemed no different from thousands of others that happen every day in cities across the world: a woman, 21, was driving so fast late at night that her Nissan Maxima turned over and she died on the way to hospital.

Police blamed the accident, on July 5, on reckless driving.

The difference was this happened in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where women are banned from driving.

The death of the woman, whose name has not been released, has caused a stir in the kingdom, with radio shows, blogs and newspaper pundits discussing her story.

Her father reportedly said his daughter got what she deserved.

The buzz was partly attributed to an incident three weeks ago, when another woman in her 20s drove her family’s car in Jeddah’s Aziziah district and was arrested by police.

She was taken to the police station and released after her parents posted bail.

Indeed, over the past three months there has been a spate of reports about women defiantly getting behind the wheel and incurring the wrath of the mutaween, the religious police whose job it is to regulate morality on the streets of the kingdom.

The women seem to be testing the political climate, which some activists say is one that hints Saudi women may finally enjoy the same right given to females in every country in the world but theirs.

“This year, you heard about many ladies driving,” says Dima al Hajri, 33, a member of the Society for Defending Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia. “It is a good step; I can’t believe it.

“I worked for an insurance company and quit last month, but they told me when they had meetings with officials they were told women will be allowed [to drive] this year. So we are waiting.”

Yet another indication came at a press conference on July 13, when the director general of the Saudi traffic department announced that new laws to curb dangerous driving were not gender specific. Previously, the rules referred to men, but now “the new law speaks only about the driver of the vehicle and there is no specification of either man or woman”, he told reporters.

Social change in Saudi Arabia is famously slow and the laws are sometimes so ambiguous that in many areas relating to the strict segregation of the sexes and guardianship of men over women, there are actually no written legal provisions. While women are forbidden to drive, for instance, they are allowed to buy cars.

And when change arrives, it is usually done after a series of seemingly inconsequential developments, statements or tests of public opinion that Saudis must decipher and relate to the bigger picture. Some television programmes have featured women driving cars – unheard of a decade ago – while the newspapers debate the merits and drawbacks of female drivers.

Nissan Middle East, no doubt keen to get a slice of the lucrative market if it opens, released a survey earlier this year that stated Saudi women preferred black sports utility vehicles, replacing pink as their favourite car colour. One Saudi princess, in particular, is well known for her pink Hummer studded with faux diamonds.

Then there is the email in circulation, which is supposedly a government plan that gives details of times women are allowed to drive and in which cities. It is being forwarded and read eagerly by thousands of people but no one knows if it is a forgery or a real official document.

Ms Hajri says the rumours and contradictions in the law are confusing and no one in the government tries to clarify them.

“Sometimes, I can’t understand what they want from us women. You are between the sky and the earth,” she says.

Still, the issue of women being able to drive appears to be a question of when, not if.

“I think we will drive by the end of the year,” says Wajeha al Huwaider, 46, who caused a sensation in March when she posted a video of herself on YouTube driving around her company’s compound.

“The head of the traffic department is the highest person who said this kind of thing. Before, they [the government] allowed people to discuss in the newspapers and that was it. Now they are connecting the dots and heading towards a decision. We sent two petitions to the king and Prince Naif, the interior minister. One was in September last year and one at the beginning of this year. We had 3,000 signatures in total and took them by going to the malls and cafes. We got men and women, but 80 per cent were women. We haven’t heard anything from the government, but they haven’t said to stop either so it gives us hope to continue.”

Women caught driving are taken to the police station with their male guardians who usually sign a paper promising she will not do it again, Ms Hajri says.

To some, that may be considered degrading, but it is a marked contrast to 1990, when 47 women gathered in a supermarket car park in Riyadh, dismissed their chauffeurs and drove through the city on the eve of the first Gulf War – when hundreds of foreign journalists were in Saudi Arabia.

The women were arrested, most lost their jobs and all had their names and telephone numbers published and distributed in pamphlets under the heading “communists” or “harlots”. They received death threats.

One of those women is watching a new generation take up the cause while she cheers quietly from the sidelines.

“Yes, it’s a brave act although tragic for the young woman who died,” says the woman, 54, who lives in Riyadh but does not want to be named because she had to sign a paper stating she would never speak to the press about her experience.

“But if the intention of the girls driving around is to change, it won’t work,” she says. “Sometimes an individual can change things, but not here. I think it is about preparing society for the concept, ‘Let’s talk about it, let’s discuss it’. The pressure is mounting. When will it happen? I don’t know. But I think the government is preparing people.

“I don’t regret what I did. Absolutely not. At that moment, it was important because the government kept saying women were not ready for change and that was just not the case. It’s not like we thought our driving would change the law, but it would show that we were not happy and there were many issues that needed to be addressed.”

Instead, there was a strong backlash from the powerful religious establishment, which issued a fatwa in 1991 that made driving a punishable offence. Previously, there was only an informal ban.

The late Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah bin Baz, chairman of the council of senior religious scholars, stated at the time that there was “no doubt” women were not allowed to drive because “women driving lead to many evils and negative consequences”.

The view was that the royal family placated religious conservatives as a way to gain concessions on the more pressing issue of allowing American soldiers on Muslim soil on the eve of the first Gulf War.

However, this February, Sheikh Abdul Mohsen al Okaikan, a member of the council of senior religious scholars, said “in principle, women driving is permitted in Islam”. He insisted the ban was related to the issue of men’s behaviour and road safety and if those were resolved, there were no religious grounds for preventing women from driving.

There is no appetite for another public protest to force the issue, says Rasha al Dabaan, a dentist who is studying to become a lecturer at King Saud University.

“We wouldn’t take that approach now, you learn from others,” she says. “It’s about working from within. Riding my car with 50 women won’t change anything. Our names will be out there and we will be harassed. But we’re out there, society is changing. Women need to work these days. It’s difficult for society to accept because it’s very rigid and afraid of change especially relating to women. Women used to work as teachers only. Even in a hospital it was a big thing to work there because it was a mixed environment. It was like, ‘My God, this lady is doing something bad. She has less virtue’. But now you see women in all areas of work.”

Many observers say the new climate is largely due to King Abdullah, who came to the throne in 2005 following the death of his half brother Fahd and has since gained a reputation as a reformer. After being crowned, he declared in a television interview, “I believe the day will come when women drive” in Saudi Arabia. This week, the king convened an unprecedented interfaith conference in Madrid between the three Abrahimic faiths, as well as Sikhs, Buddhists and Hindus.

Many women say the law will not be changed on the grounds of gender equality but economic necessity because a lot of families cannot afford to have a driver and public transportation does not exist.

“Society is not what it used to be,” says Ms Dabaan. “There are also so many single women out there and the number of divorced women have increased. It does not make sense to depend on a man. I live with my family, but a lot of women can’t afford that, a driver, and they take a taxi and that is a risk.”

A problem that needs to be addressed before women are allowed to get behind the wheel is the dangerous state of Saudi roads, which are overrun with arrogant teenagers in fast sport cars.

The new laws announced last week received a lot of attention because drivers may now be sent to jail for reckless behaviour. A new point-based system has also been set up where, after losing 96 points, the driver loses his licence and is required to enrol in driving school. The measures have been taken to discourage young Saudi men from speeding for kicks.

“Driving is high risk, even if it was allowed,” says Ms Dabaan. “They have to have really strict rules.”

A recent survey in Arab News, a Saudi-based newspaper, asked 400 Saudi and non-Saudi women where they stood on the issue and 282 said they would drive on their own without a male driver. However, 296 said they would want to see better enforcement of traffic laws before they felt safe enough to drive.

Alanoud Badr, 28, founder of Fozaza, an online boutique based in Dubai, grew up in Riyadh and says the social atmosphere needs to be changed because men are not used to the sight of women in public.

“Can you imagine a girl driving? She will be followed home by seven guys. Guys follow a girl home even if she is in a car with her family. If you allow them to drive, you need to change the whole social atmosphere.”

---The National