Wheels of Progress

Imagine living in a country where women aren’t allowed to drive. That’s always been the law in Saudi Arabia, the conservative Islamic kingdom and longtime ally of the United States. But after years of controversy, the world’s only nationwide ban on women driving—which had become a global symbol of the oppression of women—is coming to an end.

The change, announced by royal decree in late September, will take effect in June 2018. Saudi women, some of whom have been fighting for the right to drive for nearly 30 years, say they’re thrilled with the change.

“It is amazing,” says Fawziah al-Bakr, a Saudi university professor. In 1990, al-Bakr was one of the 47 women who participated in the kingdom’s first protest against the ban. After driving around the Saudi capital, Riyadh, the women were arrested and some lost their jobs.

“Since that day, Saudi women have been asking for the right to drive, and finally it arrived,” al-Bakr says. “We have been waiting for a very long time.”

Imagine living in a country where women aren’t allowed to drive. That’s always been the case in Saudi Arabia, the conservative Islamic kingdom and longtime ally of the United States. The law has long been a global symbol of the oppression of women. But after years of controversy, the world’s only nationwide ban on women driving is coming to an end.

The change, announced by royal decree in late September, will take effect in June 2018. Saudi women say they’re thrilled with the change. Some of them have been fighting for the right to drive for nearly 30 years.

“It is amazing,” says Fawziah al-Bakr, a Saudi university professor. In 1990, al-Bakr was one of the 47 women who participated in the kingdom’s first protest against the ban. The women drove around the Saudi capital, Riyadh. They were arrested and some lost their jobs. 

“Since that day, Saudi women have been asking for the right to drive, and finally it arrived,” al-Bakr says. “We have been waiting for a very long time.”    

Saudi Arabia (see map), home to Islam’s holiest sites, Mecca and Medina, is an absolute monarchy ruled according to Islamic law, and it’s probably the most gender-segregated nation in the world. Saudi officials and clerics had provided many explanations for the ban. Some said it was inappropriate in Saudi culture for women to drive, or that male drivers wouldn’t know how to handle having women in cars next to them. Others argued that ending the ban would lead to promiscuity and the collapse of the Saudi family. One cleric claimed-—with no evidence—that driving harmed women’s ovaries.

The ban on driving is just one of many restrictions on women in Saudi Arabia. As soon as they’re considered adults, Saudi women must wear black head-to-toe cloaks called abayas (see photos) in public at all times. They attend girls-only schools and university classes, and they eat in special “family” sections of restaurants, which are partitioned from the areas used by single men. Riyadh has women-only gyms, boutiques, and even a shopping mall just for women. While many Saudi women go to college, few get jobs afterward—largely because of the logistics of maintaining gender segregation in the workplace.

Saudi girls aren’t allowed to date or even be friends with boys—and their marriages are arranged. Most Saudi girls meet their husbands for the first time on the day they become engaged.

And Saudi women are denied the basic equality and rights that women in the West, and even in many Arab countries, take for granted. Under the nation’s so-called “guardianship laws,” women need written permission from a male relative before they can get a job, leave the country, travel within the country, or even undergo a medical procedure. In court, a woman’s testimony doesn’t carry the same weight as a man’s.  

The restrictions are part of the country’s very conservative interpretation of Islam, although many Muslims dispute that Islam calls for any of these limitations.

“Women are treated like perpetual legal minors in Saudi Arabia,” says Christoph Wilcke of Human Rights Watch. “It’s hard to think of another country where women’s rights are so systematically restricted.” 

The ban on women driving—a policy shared only by radical groups like the Islamic State and the Taliban—has long marred the image of Saudi Arabia. Working quietly behind the scenes, the U.S. has tried to nudge Saudi Arabia away from policies that restrict women’s rights. The decision to end the ban won praise in Washington, with Heather Nauert, the State Department’s spokeswoman, calling it “a great step in the right direction for that country.”

Saudi Arabia is home to Islam’s holiest sites, Mecca and Medina. The kingdom is an absolute monarchy ruled according to Islamic law. It’s probably the most gender-segregated nation in the world. Saudi officials and clerics had provided many explanations for the ban. Some said it was inappropriate in Saudi culture for women to drive. They’ve also said that male drivers wouldn’t know how to handle having women in cars next to them. Others argued that ending the ban would lead to promiscuity and the collapse of the Saudi family. One cleric claimed that driving harmed women’s ovaries, even though he had no evidence.

The ban on driving is just one of many restrictions on women in Saudi Arabia. As soon as they’re considered adults, Saudi women must wear black head-to-toe cloaks called abayas in public at all times. They attend girls-only schools and university classes. They also eat in special “family” sections of restaurants, which are separated from the areas used by single men. Riyadh has women-only gyms, boutiques, and even a shopping mall just for women. While many Saudi women go to college, few get jobs afterward. This is largely because it’s hard for employers to maintain gender segregation in the workplace.

Saudi girls aren’t allowed to date or even be friends with boys. Their marriages are arranged. Most Saudi girls meet their husbands for the first time on the day they become engaged.

And Saudi women are denied the basic equality and rights that women in the West, and even in many Arab countries, take for granted. The nation enforces so-called “guardianship laws.” Under these, women need written permission from a male relative to do many things. This includes getting a job, leaving the country, traveling within the country, or even undergoing a medical procedure. In court, a woman’s testimony doesn’t carry the same weight as a man’s.

The restrictions are part of the country’s very conservative interpretation of Islam. Many Muslims dispute that Islam calls for any of these limitations.

“Women are treated like perpetual legal minors in Saudi Arabia,” says Christoph Wilcke of Human Rights Watch. “It’s hard to think of another country where women’s rights are so systematically restricted.”

The ban on women driving is a policy shared only by radical groups like the Islamic State and the Taliban. The rule has long tarnished the image of Saudi Arabia. The U.S. has worked quietly behind the scenes to change this. U.S. officials have tried to nudge Saudi Arabia away from policies that restrict women’s rights. The decision to end the ban won praise in Washington. Heather Nauert, the State Department’s spokeswoman, called it “a great step in the right direction for that country.”    

Saudi leaders hope the new policy will help the economy by increasing women’s participation in the workforce. Many working Saudi women now spend much of their salaries on drivers, or they must be driven to work by male relatives.

Lifting the ban on driving brings Saudi women “one step closer to being a full citizen,” says Muna AbuSulayman, a Saudi TV presenter.

Saudi leaders hope the new policy will help the economy by increasing women’s participation in the workforce. Many working Saudi women now spend much of their salaries on drivers, or they must be driven to work by male relatives.

Lifting the ban on driving brings Saudi women “one step closer to being a full citizen,” says Muna AbuSulayman, a Saudi TV presenter.    

The momentum to change the policy picked up in recent years with the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 32-year-old son of King Salman. The crown prince has laid out a plan to overhaul the kingdom’s economy and society. Saudi officials have allowed women to work in a growing number of professions, and in 2015, women for the first time were allowed to vote in municipal elections and to run for seats on the kingdom’s local councils.

The Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Khalid bin Salman, says he believes the country is ready for this latest change.

“There is no wrong time,” he says, “to do the right thing.”

The push to change the policy picked up in recent years with the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 32-year-old son of King Salman. The crown prince has laid out a plan to revamp the kingdom’s economy and society. Saudi officials have allowed women to work in a growing number of professions. In 2015, women were allowed to vote in municipal elections and to run for seats on the kingdom’s local councils for the first time.

The Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Khalid bin Salman, says he believes the country is ready for this latest change.

“There is no wrong time,” he says, “to do the right thing.”    

With reporting by Ben Hubbard of The Times.

With reporting by Ben Hubbard of The Times.