Erstellt am: 17. 6. 2011 - 15:52 Uhr
The Koran says nothing about women and cars
Hundreds of Saudi women are driving cars today in response to calls for nationwide action to break a traditional ban unique to the ultra-conservative kingdom.
Many Saudi women had pledged on Facebook and Twitter to answer the call to defy the deeply entrenched ban, in the largest such mass action since November 1990, when female demonstrators were arrested and severely penalized. Thing is, before 1990, women driving in Saudi was a taboo but it wasn't illegal... after the organised demonstration, it became illegal.
Instead of staging demonstrations, which are strictly banned in the absolute monarchy, women with driving licences obtained abroad were encouraged to take individual action. So, women have just basically started driving, even though activist Manal al Sherif, a 32-year-old computer scientist, found herself behind bars for two weeks last month after driving in the Eastern Province and posting footage of her actions on the internet.
Six other women were also briefly detained after being caught learning to drive on an empty plot of land in north Riyadh. Women in Saudi Arabia have to follow alot of rules - from having to cover from head to toe in public and needing a male guardian's permission to travel, to having restricted access to jobs because of strict segregation rules.
This is Manal al Sharif cruising around the streets of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
However, Saudi women, contrary to popular belief, have access to tip-top education and tip-top jobs and even earn tip-top salaries. This is great BUT a driver to get a lady around costs about 500 euro a month which cuts into her wages substancially.
I think it won't be long before women are allowed to drive legally in Saudi. The king has had a nervous eye on the Arab Spring activities in neighbouring countries and if giving women driving licences will appease his people from a possible revolt, it's a small price to pay, so to speak. Plus, opening the automobile market to 50% of the population makes good economic sense. Religiously, the King doesn't have much of a leg to stand on. The Koran does not mention anything about women and cars. In the time of the Prophet Mohammed, women were riding camels, which at the time, was the vehicle of choice.