On Tuesday a Saudi Arabian court sentenced Shaima Jastaina to be lashed 10 times for defying the kingdoms ban on females driving, but it was shortly overturned by King Abdullah. The previous day King Abdullah promised to protect women’s rights and decreed that women would even be allowed to participate in municipal elections in 2015. This is why it was such a shock to Saudi women to hear the punishment for Shaima Jastaina. Usually if a woman is caught driving a policeman will make them sign a pledge not to drive again, but more and more women are driving as of a campaign to break the taboo. There isn’t a written law that restricts women from driving, but instead it is based on conservative traditions and religious views that believe giving women more freedom would make them vulnerable to sins. Saudi Arabia is the only country that bans women, both Saudi and foreign, from driving.
Many countries struggle with equality among different races or social classes, but in Saudi Arabia they are continuing the fight for the equal rights of women. It may be unusual for developed countries to hear that beatings are still given as punishments in many ultraconservative countries over broken laws that seem so harmless. The idea of women being inferior to men is a primitive viewpoint for most Americans, but what most people here and around the world fail to realize is that this type of ideology still exists on quite a large scale, especially in the Middle East. Women have been mistreated in the Middle East for a long time, but King Abdullah’s decision to overturn the verdict may be the right type of fuel to feed the fire for women's equality. This could also be a positive stride for the people and government that this ultraconservative nation needs.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/09/28/world/middleeast/AP-ML-Saudi-Women-Driving.html?src=me&ref=world
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