The October 26th Women Driving Campaign that was due to hold a drive-in today in Saudi Arabia to try and end the ban against women driving in the Kingdom, has been dropped after threats of legal actions against anyone getting behind the wheel.
However, the ongoing battle
Saudi women are waging for their right to drive, though no specific law bans such
a right, continues with a call for an open-ended campaign.
“Out of caution and respect
for the Saudi Interior Ministry’s warnings… we are asking women not to drive
and on October 26 and to change the initiative from an October 26 campaign to
an open driving campaign, activist Najla Al Hariri told AFP.
Women in Saudi Arabia have been attempting
to get the driving ban lifted since 1990, when
around 40 women drove their cars down a main street in Riyadh. They were
stopped by police and a number of them were suspended from work. The women were
widely condemned in religious sermons and social circles. The then Grand Mufti,
the kingdom’s highest religious authority, also issued a fatwa against women driving followed by a formal directive by the
Minister of Interior banning women from driving.
In 2011, women activists re-launched an Internet campaign calling on women with international driver licenses to take to the roads in defiance of the ban. Scores of women got behind the wheel to support the campaign.
Some were arrested
as a result and were made to sign pledges that they would refrain from driving in
future.
In September 2011,
one female driver was tried and sentenced to 10 lashes. Her sentence was
eventually overturned in April 2012.
Saudi Arabia is the
only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive. Although there
is no official law, a ministerial decree in 1990 formalized an existing de
facto ban and women who attempt to drive face
arrest. Women cannot be issued driving licenses
either.
Religious
objections took a knock when, for example, one leading Saudi cleric warned
women who drive cars could cause damage to their ovaries and pelvises and were
at risk of having children born with “clinical problems.”
But two weeks ago –
specifically on October 10 – the October 26th Women Driving Campaign got a
spectacular shot in the arm from the kingdom’s most prominent media figure
Abdul-Rahman al-Rashed, who is the general manager of Saudi-owned Alarabiya
TV news channel.
Writing for the kingdom’s
newspaper of records Asharq Alawsat, Rashed opined: “The novelty is not to
grant women the right to sit behind the wheel. The newness is that the request
to uphold this right was made by three Saudi women members of the Shura Council…
“Whether the government
listens to their recommendation or not, the issue of women driving has become a
major one involving Saudi public opinion. To avoid upholding women’s right to
drive is costly for everyone, both economically and politically.
“Don’t forget, the ban does
not hold water anymore. The government sends tens of thousands of female
students to major universities abroad, including Harvard and Cambridge, then
prevents them from driving in their home country.”
Personally, I cannot imagine
being forbidden to drive.
I may choose not to drive, as
I did during my 20 years living in London. It was a purely financial decision.
The cost of petrol, the congestion charge and parking costs alone would have
eaten up my salary. Plus, public transport was often quicker. But I still had
my driving license with me at all times, just in case.
I still remember the feeling
-- at 18 -- of getting my driving license and then my first car (a red mini
that broke down two days later and had to be returned). Pure bliss!
And one of the first things I
did on arriving in Dubai seven years ago was own a car.
The Saudi Interior Ministry of Interior on Wednesday warned organizers of the October 26th Women Driving Campaign, whose site has been hacked, that group gatherings and marches are illegal.
Officials also
warned the Kingdom’s strict codes against political dissent on the Internet
will be applied to anyone offering online support for a planned protest by
women challenging the male-only driving rules.
One Saudi woman
who is part of the campaign explains the situation in a post on LiveWire, Amnesty International’s human rights blog.
If
there was one word to describe what it is like to be a Saudi woman, it would be
the word patronizing. No matter how long you live, you remain a
minor in the eyes of the government.
In Saudi Arabia we take
patriarchy to the extreme. The fact that the culture, like many others around
the world, is male-dominated is not the major challenge. The real challenge is
that the government has allowed this patriarchy to dictate how it deals with
citizens. Female citizens are assigned a legal male guardian from her immediate
relatives. This male guardian can legally marry her off as a child to a man
decades her senior. He can also legally and easily ban her from education, work
and marriage. He has to pre-approve any international travel officially. Since
basic education is free and college education comes with a stipend paid by the
government to all public college students, most male guardians prefer to send
their daughters to school. Yet in those cases where the male guardian chooses
to imprison his female ward at home, the legal system makes it almost
impossible for her to be able to get away.
The de facto ban on women driving is one of the main things that
perpetuates this governmental patriarchy. Currently there is no public
transportation system available. You cannot walk to the corner and catch a bus
or take the subway except in Mecca. Thus for any woman to get from point A to
point B, she doesn’t only have to buy a car but convince a male relative or
employ a man from Southeast Asia to drive that car. This day-to-day obstacle has
proven to be a demoralizing deterrent for many women from pursuing an
education, a career and even maintaining their own healthcare.
When government officials are asked about the driving ban, they respond
that there is no legal or Islamic basis for it and that it is only socially
maintained. The King himself stated so. Others who have made similar statements
include the Minister of Justice, the Head of the Commission for the Promotion
of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, and the Chief of Traffic Police. Yet when a
woman gets behind the wheel of her car, it isn’t society that stops her but the
police. In many cases the woman is then taken to the nearest police station and
her male guardian is called. The woman and her guardian are both made to sign
pledges to ensure that this case of driving while female is not repeated.
There have been several attempts since 1990 to try to lift this ban on
women driving. Among them were proposals sent to the Shura Council by Dr
Mohammad Al Zulfa in 2006 and another by Abdullah Al Alami in 2012. Both were
not even allowed to be discussed on the floor of the council. There have also
been several petitions and requests sent to the Royal Court, which mostly
failed to get a response. There were also campaigns to get women just to go out
and drive. And they too were met with more of a response from the government
than from society.
 |
| "[Saudi] Officials can no longer use the 'society' excuse" |
Thus the October 26th Women Driving
Campaign is the most recent
campaign to try to resolve the women driving ban. What makes this campaign
special is that it’s the first real civil movement to occur in Saudi Arabia.
There is no face to the movement. The petition was written by more than 30
people, many of whom do not know each other.
The first couple of days the
petition went public, we were still accepting revisions to the text. It was
only finalized on the third day. Everyone who signs the petition is considered
not only an organizer but a leader who can take the initiative to act in the
name of the campaign. The campaign itself has Youtube channels and an Instagram account for signatories to upload their driving videos, photos and even just
to talk or make a statement through art. Through these means, the campaign aims
not only to call on the government to quit its ambiguity regarding the ban but
also to demonstrate that officials can no longer use the “society” excuse.
Ian Black, The Guardian’s Middle
East editor, writes in an article published Friday that “three female members of
the Shura [advisory] Council -- among 30 who were appointed in January by the
90-year-old King Abdullah -- recommended this month that the ban be rescinded,
though no debate has yet taken place. Latifa al-Shaalan, Haya al-Mani and Muna al-Mashit
urged the council to ‘recognize the rights of women to drive a car in
accordance with the principles of sharia
[Islamic law] and traffic laws.’
“The three -- praised by supporters for ‘stirring the stagnant water’ --
framed their argument with careful references to fatwas (religious edicts) banning
women from being in the company of an unrelated male (such as a driver). Other
suggestions designed to reassure critics are appointing female traffic police
and driving instructors. Cost is another big factor with families having to
employ chauffeurs, as is convenience.”
But Black notes: “Signs of powerful opposition, however, are still easy
to detect. This week 150 clerics and religious scholars held a rare public
protest outside King Abdullah's palace in Jeddah to object to ‘westernization’
and ‘the conspiracy of women driving,’ blaming the U.S. -- a byword in
traditionalist circles for anything distasteful or immoral -- for being behind
the campaign.”
 |
| A female Saudi activist to Amnesty International |
“The driving ban is inherently discriminatory and
demeaning to women and must be overturned immediately. It is completely
unacceptable for the authorities to stand in the way of activists planning to
campaign against it,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Director of
the Middle East and North Africa Program.
“Instead of
repressing the initiative, the authorities must immediately lift the ban to
ensure that women are never again arrested or punished simply for being behind
the wheel of a car.”
Amnesty adds: “At
present women in Saudi Arabia are dependent on men to carry out simple daily tasks
requiring transport. Lifting the ban would allow women to drive to work or
university and enable mothers to take their children to schools.”
Referring to
today’s actions, Eman Al Nafjan is quoted by AFP as saying, “the date was only symbolic, and women have begun
driving before and will continue to drive after October 26.”
I will be thinking
of the many Saudi women trying to break the ban, today or on any other day, as I get into my car to go to work.
Good luck ladies.
You will win!
