Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has issued a historic royal decree granting driving licenses for women in the kingdom as of next June.
The royal decree issued on Tuesday also ordered the establishment of a high-level committee of involving the ministries of internal affairs, finance, labor and social development. They will be tasked with studying the arrangements of the edict within 30 days and to ensure the full implementation of the order by June 2018.
“The royal decree will implement the provisions of traffic regulations, including the issuance of driving licenses for men and women alike,” the Saudi Press Agency said.
RELATED: Senior scholars see no impediment to women driving in Saudi Arabia
“This is a great victory for many Saudi women. This was the one file and issue which Saudi women have fought not just years, but decades for. Every time we asked, we were told the time was not right. When we asked those previous from this men and women who said we didn’t need to drive, King Salman,” Latifa Shaalan, a Saudi female member of Saudi Arabia’s Shoura Council, told Al Arabiya.
In a Tweet United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres welcomed the decision as well as the US State Department commended the Kingdom on the move, calling it a positive step.
I welcome Saudi Arabia's decision to lift the ban on women drivers. An important step in the right direction. — António Guterres (@antonioguterres) September 27, 2017
Ivanka Trump called the decision a historic one for Saudi Arabian women.
1:2 Today was a historic day for women in Saudi Arabia as a decree was announced to lift the ban on women drivers. #SaudiArabia — Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) September 27, 2017
“This will have a huge impact on Saudi Arabia’s economy. We have to remember that our kingdom produces more female graduates compared to our male counterparts,” Ghada Ghunaim, Saudi writer and journalist told Al Arabiya.
In Saudi Arabia, most families depend on private drivers to personally help transport their female relatives to school, work and other places.
RELATED: Saudi women reactions to new driving decree flood Twitter
According to the latest statistics, there are nearly 800,000 men, most from South Asia, who work solely as drivers to Saudi women.
Ghunaim told Al Arabiya English Tuesday’s royal decree will inevitably also help poor and middle-class families.
“A lot of families in Saudi Arabia are not able to afford paying a driver a monthly salary, this royal decree will help ease a lot of families who struggle with their women not being able to drive,” she added.
Last Update: Wednesday, 27 September 2017 KSA 06:02 - GMT 03:02
DeezNutsGOTEMAGAIN on September 26th, 2017 at 19:33 UTC »
Must be a great time to be a Saudi driving instructor
Zyad300 on September 26th, 2017 at 19:08 UTC »
Well I better go renew my driving license before the long lines begin
Clarinetaphoner on September 26th, 2017 at 19:04 UTC »
Here is a NYT article with some more details
Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday that it would allow women to drive, ending a longstanding policy that has become a global symbol of the repression of women in the ultraconservative kingdom.
The change, which will take effect in June of next year, was announced on state television and in a simultaneous media event in Washington. The decision highlights the damage that the no-driving policy has done to the kingdom’s international reputation and its hopes for a public relations benefit from the reform.
Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, is a Muslim monarchy ruled according to Shariah law. Saudi officials and clerics have provided numerous explanations for the ban over the years.
Some said that it was inappropriate in Saudi culture for women to drive, or that male drivers would not know how to handle women in cars next to them. Others argued that allowing women to drive would lead to promiscuity and the collapse of the Saudi family. One cleric claimed — with no evidence — that driving harmed women’s ovaries.
Rights groups have long campaigned for the ban to be overturned, and some women have been arrested and jailed for defying the prohibition and taking the wheel.
But the momentum to change the policy has picked up in recent years with the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a 32-year-old son of the king who has laid out a far-reaching plan to overhaul the kingdom’s economy and society.
Beyond the effects it could have on Saudi Arabia’s image abroad, letting women drive could help the Saudi economy.
Low oil prices have limited the government jobs that many Saudis have long relied on, and the kingdom is trying to push more citizens, including women, into gainful employment. But some working Saudi women say hiring private drivers to get them to and from work eats up much of their pay, diminishing the incentive to work.
In recent years, many women have come to rely on ride-sharing apps like Uber and Careem to gain some freedom of movement.
Despite the announcement, women will not be able to drive immediately. The kingdom has no infrastructure for women to learn to drive or to obtain drivers licenses. The police will need to be trained to interact with women in a way that they rarely do in a society where men and women who are not related rarely interact.
But many of the kingdom’s professionals and young people will welcome the change, viewing it as a step to making life in the country a bit more like life elsewhere.