Women2Drive Movement in Saudi Arabia

In places such as the United States, it is almost unfathomable to imagine a world where women are not allowed to drive. In Saudi Arabia, this was their reality. Women and children grew accustomed to relying on others to get anywhere from school, to work to the grocery store. If families were able to afford it, women often had a driver to bring them around and afforded some mobility. The culture adapted to a women’s inability to leave and come as she pleased with fast food restaurants offering to bring food to women who were unable to leave the house because their driver or husband were not available (Bager). The lack of mobility and freedom that this caused women, led to the movement campaign we now know as “Women2Drive” and is now one of the driving forces behind new legislation allowing women to begin driving in June of 2018.

            While the whole movement centers around allowing women to legally drive, technically women driving has itself never been illegal. The act of women driving is made illegal by a set of defacto laws and a fatwa which led to a formal ban on women driving. Laws that prohibit women from driving include laws that prohibit women from obtaining a driver’s license or the guardianship laws that make it impossible for women to be independent from men, making things like driving by yourself nearly impossible (Shmuluvitz, par. 5). A fatwa was also issued in 1990 regarding the issue of women driving because the religious body feared the social and cultural repercussions women driving would present (Shmuluvitz, par. 2). The fatwa issued in 1990 following the minor uprising of women driving, led to the interior minister of the time, Nayef bin Abdul -Aziz Al Saud to issue a ban on women driving (Rothna, par. 6).

The fatwa was issued due to an uprising of approximately 47 women who went to an empty parking lot in the city of Riyadh to drive (“Saudi Arabia Agrees to Let Women Drive”, par. 4). The women involved were subsequently arrested for their actions, many of whom lost jobs or were shunned by others for what they had done. Rumors began to spread about what had occurred at the protest, claiming the women were in “bikinis” (“Once Shunned as ‘Drivers,’ Saudi Women Who Fought for Ban Now Celebrate”, par. 26). While it did begin a conversation on the capability of women driving, many also questioned why the protest took place. Yes, it was inconvenient for women to have to rely on everyone else to get around, but why change it? Women driving? That was inconceivable.

While women fighting for their right to drive isn’t a new phenomenon in Saudi Arabia, 4 women were crucial in the development of the “Women2Drive” movement.  Manal Al Sharif, Loujain Al Hathloul, Wajeha Al Huwaider and Maysaa Al Amoudi were all integral in the “Women2Drive” movement. Manal Al Sharif gained worldwide attention when she drove through Saudi Arabia posting the footage of herself doing so on YouTube. While she ended up getting arrested for her defiant act, what she did put spotlights on the issue of women not being able to drive and boosted support for the movement (Begum). Although she was arrested and held in jail, her act brought about the wider issue and gave other women a leg to stand on when it came down to the broader issue of women in the driver’s seat. Maysaa Al Amoudi and Loujain Al Hathloul, like Al Sharif were also arrested for attempting to cross into Saudi Arabia driving. Saudi officials arrested Al Hathloul because she was driving the vehicle and subsequently arrested Al Amoudi for being in the car with a woman driving. Wajeha Al Huwaider made noise for the movement by being an advocate and although scrutinized, created a petition for people to sign, asking for the ban currently placed on driving to be lifted (Al Ash- Shaykh).

While it takes more than being arrested and having people sign a petition for a successful movement to take place, what these women did helped to drive the movement to success. They risked everything they had to bring awareness to an issue that was being widely ignored for decades. Factors such as modernization and globalization helped the culture to shape and adjust to the idea of women being able to drive (“Once Shunned as ‘Drivers,’ Saudi Women Who Fought for Ban Now Celebrate”, par. 6). This is also a factor in how the movement was able to successfully get the ban lifted and the fatwa against women driving removed and allowed for legislation that stated they could drive. While people are still staunchly against allowing women to drive in the area, the fact that women will be able to is a great win for the women who sacrificed so much to see this dream become reality.

While guardianship laws are still in place in Saudi Arabia, Prince Khalid Bin Salmon stated that women would be able to drive without men, so they could move about freely going to work or to school (Begum, par.15). Women can finally experience freedom and with this some women have considered joining the work force due to their newfound mobility. While it is difficult to predict the outcome of the “Women2Drive” movement on the society, this is a good step to showing that while not every social movement can be successful, some can and this one was.