Article by Hatoon Kadi, a Saudi PhD student living in London. Appeared in the English daily the Arab News on September 15, 2014. Link to the story is here, and the story is pasted below.
It has been nearly five months since I acquired my driving license. I felt
like sharing my feelings with my readers at the risk of being declared
repetitive. I know I have written so much on this issue and it might not
be a big deal for thousands of women driving cars across the world. To
me, however, it is a different experience altogether.
I can confidently claim that being able to drive has transformed my daily life.
It
is true, however that in the UK you can live without a car giving the
fact that the public transport system is excellent. Not only that it is
more environment friendly. Having said that I would like to say if you
have a family nothing beats the convenience of having your own vehicle. I
remember the time when I did not have a car, I used to abandon social
gathering, as I did not wish to drag sleepy boys off the train to the
cab and then to our home. The situation used to get ugly when I had to
drag grocery bags to my home. It really used to become an uphill task in
every sense of the word, as my house is situation on a hill and buses
don’t reach there.
I also remember running down the hill to catch the
tram and then reach the tram to see it moving in front of us, which
means waiting for the next one and be late for school, and needless to
say that my sophisticated Ph.D. student prestige was always disturbed
when the principle give that look of
“you-clumsy-late-for-school-mother.”
But now I can easily say that I
am liberated. I am in charge of my life and I have the freedom to move
around. I can see that some readers might think that it is so naive to
think that having a car is a liberating experience but for me it is
truly a huge relieve and kind of liberation. I remember back in Saudi
Arabia when relying completely on drivers or any male member of the
family to move us around was the norm. I remember how women bought cars
with their own money and then hand them to drivers who could be
manipulative and dishonest and very unprofessional but we had to put up
with it because it was our only means of moving around. Now each time I
sit in the driver’s seat I cherish it and appreciate the convenience. I
pray to God that the issue of women driving is resolved soon. It is
really killing when you are expected to be successful in life and to
contribute to the economy of the country but yet you are not allowed to
move around.
—
@HatoonKadi
No comments:
Post a Comment