Dozens
of Saudi women took to the roads around Saudi Arabia on Saturday, October 26,
2013 for a campaign challenging the de facto ban on driving by women. Many Saudi
men played a key role in helping wives, sisters and female friends to enjoy
what they believe to be a fundamental right. They have been forming packs of
two or three cars around female drivers to help and protect from potential harassment.
This campaign launched in September and this past Saturday about 40 women
defied the ban by driving around doing their errands as they then posted videos
online of them doing so. Some of the women were tailed by State Security
officers, while others were stopped and told to sign a petition stating they
would not drive again. From the past campaigns in 1990 and 2011, women who were
caught driving were detained, fired from their jobs or banned from traveling. The
forbidding of women driving can be linked to their country’s Islamic conservative
culture that is a monarchy forbidding political protests. Though no laws officially ban
women from driving in Saudi Arabia, authorities will not issue them driver’s
licenses. The women that participated in the campaign over the weekend had
licenses from abroad.
The
tradition of banning women from driving comes from interpretations of Islam
known as Wahabbism, with warnings that women driving could unravel the very
fabric of Saudi society. Saudi clerics did sermons last week stating that
lifting the ban and increasing women’s freedom of movement would lead to
increased premarital sex, adultery and would lead to calls for political
reforms. However, opponents of the ban say the lack of mobility causes
hardships for Saudi women because they cannot afford to hire drivers and some
have no male relatives at hand to drive them around. This campaign over the
weekend flooded the Internet with photos and videos of Saudi fathers filming
their daughters at the wheel and Saudi sons teaching their mothers to drive.
Even a satirical song, “No Woman, No Drive,” an adaptation of Bob Marley’s hit “No
Woman, No Cry,” was made by a 26 year old Saudi-American comedian poking fun at
claims that driving would hurt women’s reproductive capacity. Most of the men
active in the campaign are in their 20’s or 30’s and have been careful not to
gather for fear of being accused of organizing a protest. A Saudi male
campaigner, who asked to keep his name concealed, stated “Because of the
activism of men, sooner rather than later, women will drive.”
Elaine Etzler
11/1/13
11:55 AM
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