All Aboard: Saudi Women Get Behind The Wheel As Driving Ban Ends

Women in Saudi Arabia got behind the wheel at exactly midnight on Sunday, effectively ending the world’s last ban on female drivers. The lifting of the prohibition was ordered in September as part of sweeping reforms pushed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with a view to modernizing the conservative Muslim country and diversifying a stagnant economy almost entirely dependent on oil sales. Women with foreign drivers’ licenses were only able to begin converting them earlier this month, so the number of female drivers will remain low for the foreseeable future. However, new state-run training schools estimate to have some 3 million Saudi women on the roads by 2020. While the end of the ban has been readily welcomed by Riyadh’s Western allies, the kingdom nevertheless continues to crack down on dissent, including, seemingly paradoxically, the recent imprisonment of numerous campaigners for the right of women to drive. Moreover, many Saudi women still face religious-derived pressure, in particular from family members, to not engage in “taboo” behavior. It will thus likely be a slow process of changing the hearts and minds of many in the Islamic nation.