Saudi council urges easing decades-old ban on women driving

The Saudi king’s advisory council has recommended that the government lift its ban on female drivers — but only for women over 30, who must be off the road by 8 p.m. and cannot wear makeup behind the wheel, a member of the council told The Associated Press Friday. The Shura Council’s recommendations are not obligatory on the government. But simply making the recommendation was a startling shift after years of the kingdom staunchly rejecting any review of the ban.

Our society is not built on mutual respect or accepting differences, even when it comes to something as God-given as gender.

activist Yara Wazir to the Al Arabiya news agency

There have been small but increasingly bold protests by women who took to their cars over the past year. The driving ban, which is unique in the world, is imposed because the kingdom’s ultraconservative Muslim clerics say “licentiousness” will spread if women drive. The ban is part of the general restrictions imposed on women based on strict interpretation of Islamic Shariah law. Genders are strictly segregated, and women are required to wear a headscarf and loose, black robes in public. Guardianship laws require women to get permission from a male relative to travel, get married, enroll in higher education or undergo certain surgical procedures.

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