New Women Driving Campaign in Saudi Arabia

Since the first World conference on Women in 1975, the issue of women’s rights was brought to the international stage which led to the General Assembly’s adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). These events also coincided with the international feminist movement of the 1970s.

In the case of Saudi Arabia, however, women began to see a significant amount of progress during the reign of King Abdualllah.  The kingdom expanded its educational opportunities, appointed the first female vice minister, promoted women’s employment, and most recently, appointed thirty women to the Consultative or Shura Council. Presently, society has turned its attention to the issue of women driving. As one of the most controversial topics, liberals and conservatives alike have been debating the issue especially after the announcement of a new campaign in an attempt to end the ban on women driving.

Although the issue of women driving is considered a social taboo, there is no official law banning in it. When asked about the official position, the government has repeatedly stated that this is a social issue. Sheikh Abdulatif Al-Sheikh, the head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, also known as the morality/religious police, made a similar statement to Reuters. Al-Sheikh said that he has no authority on changing the policy on this but “Islamic sharia does not have a text forbidding women driving”.

With the help of social media, activists have organized what is now the third campaign pushing for the end of the driving ban. The first campaign took place in November of 1990, where forty-seven women drove around Riyadh in a convoy for half an hour in protest of the driving ban. The second campaign took place in June of 2011. Inspired by the Arab Uprisings, the activists planned to have women drive on the street all over the country on June 17. Due to the timing of both campaigns, the first taking place during the Gulf War and the second during the Arab Uprisings, both efforts were viewed as a threat to destabilize the society and resulted in the arrests of the participants including the highly reported arrest of Manal Al-Sharif.

Given the timing of this third campaign and the amount of support it’s getting, organizers and activists are more optimistic about the outcome. The campaign’s website, oct26driving.com, currently has about 15,900 signatures on a petition backing the issue. On social media, users have created the hashtag #oct26driving on twitter and have uploaded videos on YouTube of women driving in Jeddah and Riyadh as well as videos of men teaching female members of their family to drive. One of the videos that have been circulating shows not only a woman driving but also captures people gesturing a “thumbs up” from the cars passing by her.

Moreover, two women that were a part of the first driving protest in 1990 have filmed themselves driving in Riyadh and posted it onto the campaign’s YouTube channel. So far, 20 videos have been uploaded of women driving in support of the campaign with only one reporting that the police had stopped her.She later stated that she and her friend were stopped due to her live tweeting of the event as she is a prominent blogger.

As the most organized and unified campaign to date, the activists have not only gained attention and encouragement domestically but internationally as well. However, there are many factors working towards permitting women to drive. The first is King Abdullah’s reform vision that encompasses many aspects of Saudi society including the promotion of education to both women and men.  The second relates to the Saudi society where liberals and moderates are advocating for women to drive. This is illustrated by the popular saying regarding the appointment of women in the Shura Council, “ If we can trust them to recommend law and study treaties between Saudi and other states, we can trust them to drive.” The third has to do with the international community’s concern over this issue. The subject of women in Saudi Arabia is raised in numerous articles in the international media and is brought up by the international community in debates or panels Saudi officials are involved in. Finally, a factor that is seldom mentioned is that some in the religious community are opposed to having a foreign or non-relative male drive women around. This may contribute to allow women to drive themselves in order to avoid this situation.

These factors along with the campaign efforts may lead to some form of compromise, but since the Saudi society is conservative, the change will most likely be gradual. It has been previously suggested that there should be an age limit to women allowed to drive. Another option would be to allow only foreign women or only allow those who have a job to drive.

The Oct. 26 Driving campaign will most likely advocate a strategy used by King Faisal when he first opened schools for girls during his reign. The state provided the schools but the decision to enroll the girls was left to the families and their traditions. The slogan for the Oct. 26 campaign resonates a similar message stating, “ Women driving is a choice and not forced.”