Saudi Gazette Editorial in Support of Saudi Women Driving

At right is the link to "Right to Drive," an editorial piece from the Saudi English language daily, The Saudi Gazette. The editors are in favor of women driving. I particularly like the ending of the editorial.

"It is both impossible and unwise to encourage women to get an education and then stunt their opportunities to employ it fully in service to their nation by not allowing them to determine when they will go somewhere and how they will go somewhere without first consulting a male driver. If we are to utilize our greatest asset, we must give them the freedom of movement. And that means the right to drive. "

Women's Transport Solutions Needed by Laura Bashraheel

Another nice piece by Laura Bashraheel in the Arab News, discussing many aspects of the driving issue such as the cost of drivers and the difficulty of getting visas for them. This from the 6/27/09 Arab News. I think the piece is insightful because it gets below the surface issues usually covered in stories about Saudi women driving.


You can read the full story by clicking on the title of this post. It is also listed on the right side of this page with all the other news stories.

"Your Car Is In the Lift, Madam" - An Interesting Article on Women and Cars in Riyadh

The latest link at the right is to a story about women in Riyadh and their cars - about how they buy cars, and how women are helping to sell cars to well-heeled clients. The article also has some good quotes about the issue of women driving. This article is by Caryle Murphy, and it appeared in The National. I like the photograph too, by Alex Maalouf.
To read the story, click on the title of this post.

Saudi Women's 'Brain Drain'

It's been a while since a major story about Saudi women driving has appeared. I've just added a link to a story from the Arab News earlier this month, by Laura Bashraheel, about young Saudi women moving to neighboring Gulf countries. There, they can pursue their careers while avoiding customs about gender separation. They can own and run businesses without having a male agent. They can deal with government institutions directly. And yes, they can drive. I'm including this article because it has several quotes from young women who mention that being able to drive is a plus. Also, the writer says there are many young Saudi women who are living in neighboring Gulf countries, waiting for things to change back home in Saudi Arabia.

TV interview with Areej Khan, force behind campaign promoting Saudi women driving

Areej Khan's campaign to promote discussion about women's driving was featured on New York TV on 5/15/09. I'm going to include this interview in our list of news links, but also wanted to feature the interview since it's great to see and hear her. Best of luck Ms. Khan!

Here is the link to the television interview.

First American Woman Driver to Obtain A License - 1900

Yesterday I visited the town of Concord, near Boston, with my book discussion group. We had all read an interesting book about the great writers and thinkers who lived in Concord in the 1800's - Ralph Waldo Emerson, HD Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, Margaret Fuller, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. We wanted to visit their homes and then discuss the book, American Bloomsbury by Susan Cheever. First we visited the Alcott's home, and the Emerson's home. At the Alcott's home, we had women tour guides who played the roles of friends and family who would have been at the home in the 1860's. There was even a young lady, dressed in traditional costume, playing the harp.

What does this have to do with women driving you ask? One of us wanted to visit the graves of the famous Concord authors, which are all on the same hill in Concord's Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. It's known as Authors' Ridge, and is definitely worth a visit. As we walked into the cemetery, we came across a sign pointing to the grave site of Anne Rainsford French Bush. She was born in 1878 and died in 1962. She is believed to be the first American woman to have a driver's license. According to records, she was granted a license on March 22, 1900. The type of license she was granted was for a "Steam Engineer's License, Locomobile Class".

Who will be the first Saudi women to get a Saudi driver's license? Since Saudi women are so modest, I doubt anyone will step forward to claim that achievement. Yet I hope that one day, those who get the first licenses will find their sons and daughters, and their grandsons and granddaughters, bragging about their courage.

How would you implement Saudi women's driving?

We haven't seen any articles recently about the issue of Saudi women driving in the world press. For a while there were almost weekly stories about the issue, now nothing. In the quiet between bursts of news, why not think positive and try to visualize the actual process of women getting permission to drive.

OK, imagine you've been given the job of implementing a new law permitting women to drive. So how would you do it? Instead of thinking about how many obstacles you'll face, all the conservative males who will be in an uproar, just concentrate on how to implement the new law.

Obviously, no one has asked me, but this is how I'd do it if I were put in charge.

1. Open a driving school for women in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam; and hire and train a staff of women to teach there. The women teachers could be Saudi women who have international drivers licenses and pass a driving test. The schools would be on the outskirts of the city and would have practice streets where the women could get used to driving, parking, etc.

2. Design a driving test, written and practical, to be administered to ALL young drivers, not just women. For women, the test would be given on-site at the schools. Perhaps in this way, young men can be trained to be respectful and responsible drivers.

3. When the driving schools are up and running, permit advanced women student drivers to be on the roads with their instructors in marked cars.

4. As women pass their driving exams, give them their licenses and voila, slowly, they will appear on the roads. And hopefully, it will turn out to be a smooth transition.

There has been talk about limiting the times of day when women can drive, and also the ages of women drivers. If I were in charge, I would not restrict such things. Each individual family can be as careful as they like.