By Damien McElroy in Riyadh, Daily Telegraph, UK
Saudi Arabia is to lift its ban on women drivers in an attempt to stem a rising suffragette-style movement in the deeply conservative state. Government officials have confirmed the landmark decision and plan to issue a decree by the end of the year.
The move is designed to forestall campaigns for greater freedom by women, which have recently included protesters driving cars through the Islamic state in defiance of a threat of detention and loss of livelihoods. The royal family has previously balked at granting women driving permits, claiming the step did not have full public support. The driving ban dates back to the establishment of the state in 1932, although recently the government line has weakened. “There has been a decision to move on this by the Royal Court because it is recognised that if girls have been in schools since the 1960s, they have a capability to function behind the wheel when they grow up,” a government official told The Daily Telegraph.
“We will make an announcement soon.” Abdulaziz bin Salamah, the deputy information minister, said the official reform programme had been dogged by debate over the issue. “In terms of women driving, we don’t have it now because of the reticence of some segments of society,” he said. “For example, my mother wouldn’t want my sister to drive. “It’s something she cannot grapple with. But there is change on the way. I think the fair view is that one can be against it but one does not have the right to prevent it.”
If the ban on women driving is lifted, it could be years before the full impact is seen. Practical hurdles stopping women obtaining licences and insurance must be overcome. Mohammad al-Zulfa, a reformist member of the Saudi consultative Shura Council, which scrutinises official policies in the oil-rich state, said reversing the ban was part of King Abdullah’s “clever” strategy of incremental reform. “When it was first raised, the extremists were really mad,” he said. “Now they just complain. It is diminishing into a form of consent.”
The Islamic Workplace 
Jaime
January 22, 2008
This is great and funny simultaneously. US “feminists” like Hillary Clinton or Karen Hughes, who were so troubled by the notion that Saudi women could not drive should be ecstatic. But the real policy issues that Saudi women actually have on the top of their lists (economic security, jobs for their children and husbands, proper health care, greater female access into society, increasing poor to rich gap, etc) can be quickly swept under the rug with one quick sweep called “reform” in the form of allowing women drivers.
But of course any kind of progressive reform will hopefully inspire reformists to continue with their press to pressure the regime to listen to the concerned populace on many other BIGGER issues. Baby steps I guess…
http://www.saudiwomensociety.com/index.php?
option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=35
Jaime
speculative.wordpress.com