Saudi Arabia prepares to lift ban on female drivers
If you're of the opinion that the religious right has too much influence on American politics, you should check out Saudi Arabia. The royal family has relied for decades on the support of fundamentalist Wahabi clerics who, in return for their support to the ibn Saud regime, have insisted on ever more stringent laws. Among those measures has been a strict ban prohibiting women from driving that has been in effect for 75 years since the founding of Saudi Arabia in 1932, but the Saudi government is finally preparing to lift the ban.
The government decision reportedly stems from an effort to placate a mounting women's lib movement, whose activists have been mounting rolling demonstrations by leading convoys of women driving around in the kingdom despite the law prohibiting them from obtaining driver's licenses or automobile insurance. According to the Saudi government, the ban will be lifted by the end of the year. Critics point out, however, that previous government commitments towards reform have not been met.
[Source: The Daily Telegraph via Instapundit, Photo by HASSAN AMMAR/AFP/Getty]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
gfh 3:36AM (2/17/2008)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/28/international/middleeast/28hughes.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Y do americans think that every woman wants to live like an american?
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ricky 2:09PM (5/30/2009)
It's not stopping them, I know a saudi women who participated in this years Gumball 3000 rally. Thumbs up!!
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Richard 12:38PM (1/22/2008)
great!
Now Saudi women can get caught driving with men they don't know!
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993C4S 12:42PM (1/22/2008)
Interesting and about time. I wonder what this will do for luxury car sales? Should give them a boost given the relative wealth of Saudi Arabia.
http://www.993C4S.com/wordpress
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sledge 2:27PM (1/22/2008)
Actually it won't affect car sales much because most women who could afford cars but couldn't drive usually had chauffeurs. So essentially they have already bought the vehicles.
993C4S 2:33PM (1/22/2008)
Valid point. However, I wonder if the new sense of freedom would roll into the desire to drive their own vehichle. It's pure speculation on my part. As a male, living in the US, it's tough to relate.
www.993C4s.com/wordpress
Brent 12:46PM (1/22/2008)
That is great news. A step in the correct direction.
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Drewboy 1:01PM (1/22/2008)
How is this a step in the right direction? I mean, for women's rights of course it is. But think of the implications. With a possible double the drivers in Saudi Arabia, what will it do for their oil exports to the US, China, and other dependent countries???
hotcams 8:37PM (1/22/2008)
The population of Oilrabia is barely 6 million. Hardly a drop in the oil bucket. Iraq should have gone after Oilrabia first, what a blunder, they would have crushed them as easily as Kuwait.
Mike 12:47PM (1/22/2008)
It's gotta be hard to see out of those Burqa's...
Insert more woman drivers = skyrocketing insurance rates joke here.
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Takeo 12:55PM (1/22/2008)
Easy to make misogynistic jokes when the country you live in doesn't have
a "department for the prevention of vice and the promotion of virtue" (i.e. religious police with a mandate to beat anyone senseless they see fit).
Squiderman 1:06PM (1/22/2008)
Hey, that's what revolutions are for. Don't like your government? Change it!
Mike 1:08PM (1/22/2008)
Trust me Takeo, I know better than anyone else I know how the insurance joke just slaughtered my karma points.
I am well aware of the oppressive nature of the Sauidi govt and its religious police.
Daniel 1:05PM (1/22/2008)
With friends like this...
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cheezwiz 1:11PM (1/22/2008)
I'm all for human rights.
But, am I the only one that sees a safety problem with putting half the population behind the wheel for the first time, all at once?
Time to invest in Daimler, since there are going to be a lot of totaled Mercedes in the next year.
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Dolemite 3:06PM (1/22/2008)
Indeed, I am hoping this leads to Saudi Arabia's population being reduced by 1/3 to 1/2. The world needs less Sadis.
Menice 1:16PM (1/22/2008)
WAIT, do they still have to wear the head dress??? that has to be blind spot city!
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MixiM 2:08PM (1/22/2008)
No women on the roads? Great we whould get those shejks to move over to sweden ;)
Luis 1:50PM (1/22/2008)
That's what I was thinking!LOL
nick 1:44PM (1/22/2008)
Now your women can run to the 7/11 for you...
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