Women to Drive Movement

Women to Drive

In 1957, Saudi Arabia’s capital and a very populous city Riyadh, passed a law that banned women from driving (Commins, 109). For decades, women had to either hire male drivers or have men in their family drive them anywhere. This has prevented women from being able to get jobs and has affected Saudi Arabia’s economy negatively as about half of their population is unable to participate in the work force. 

As international standards for women’s rights rose, women in Saudi Arabia demanded a change to the ban on driving and began the “Women To Drive Movement.” The first form of activism that was seen in support of this movement occurred in November of 1990, when a group of women drove around Riyadh for half an hour until they were stopped by police. They were punished for this crime harshly. Their families “were barred from foreign travel for a year”; “women who had government jobs were fired”; and the women “were denounced by name as immoral women out to destroy Saudi society” (Murphy). This was an important part of the movement because it showed how unjust the rule was and how harsh the government was in responding to it. This became the backbone for the movement. 

The movement steadily gained momentum, however, in 2011 when women took to social media and were exposed to other various political movements. Many women were inspired by other uprisings against autocratic rulers. They began to believe that they also had a voice and could make a change through protests. This shows the power that the internet and social media has on society and change. 

There are many examples of women who took to the internet to show their acts of protest against the law on driving. One woman in 2011 began driving regularly. When she was interviewed by the BBC and she stated: “Before in Saudi, you never heard about protests, [but] after what has happened in the Middle East, we started to accept a group of people going outside and saying what they want in a loud voice, and this has had an impact on me" (Buchanan). A call for change truly began when Manal Al-Sharif took the movement campaign to social media. She posted a video of her driving and called upon women and men to join her “Women2Drive” movement. Her video received thousands of views within a day. She was imprisoned for nine days as punishment (Vu). The harsh punishment may have been meant to deter Al-Sharif and other women from driving.  But in reality, the harsh punishment she received strengthened her campaign and increased its following as more women were encouraged to raise their voices against this unjust law. Following Al-Sharif’s media post, many more women became inspired and took to the streets, driving until they were arrested and posting it on various social media platforms to gain more and more support. 

After women had protested for almost 27 years, in September of 2017, King Salman finally issued a statement, which gave Saudi women the right to drive; however, it will not be implemented until June 24, 2018. The flock towards social media truly commenced the movement because it not only inspired Middle Eastern women and men, but it also inspired people in the United States to get involved. This further pressured the Saudi Arabian government to make a change to the law.
            This has inspired more change for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia and has even brought challenge to the guardianship rule, which stops women from making decisions without assistance of a male figure. This move to ease restrictions on women in Saudi Arabia will have great outcomes on their economy and women’s ability to work (Gauoette & Labott). Many women in Saudi Arabia are well-educated and ambitious and the ban on driving has prevented them from reaching their goals in society. Even though it may not seem like such a large step in women’s rights, it has helped inspire many women to feel empowered to have a sense of participation in Saudi Arabia.

Although it is a great positive step, there are still many lifestyle limits on women in Saudi Arabia. This includes their strict law known as Wahhabism, which requires women to have strict dress codes, they cannot associate with unrelated men, and they must always be accompanied by a male guardian (Gardner). These limitations that women face will hopefully be lifted soon in the future to allow women to have equal rights. Women in Saudi Arabia have pushed for change more and more as they hope to have equal access to resources and work. Change has sparked specifically from the “Women to Drive” movement and it has continued into other movements in an attempt to allow women to do as they wish without a male figure having to be involved.