Women Driving

Not what some of you are thinking. This is not going to be a sexist rant about women drivers. Actually, this is about women driving in Saudi Arabia. You see, women driving in Saudi Arabia is not allowed. It is actually illegal for women to drive a car in the Saudi kingdom.

I first heard about this law from my mother a few years back. Her boss is Lebanese. He and his wife are both devout Muslims. They do their prayers, observe Ramadan, she wears a hijab. They were thinking of moving to Saudi Arabia where he had a lucrative job lined up. Until his very independent and strong willed wife heard from her sister about the driving ban and she put an end to the moving to Saudi Arabia talk.

There is a movement in Saudi Arabia which is being overshadowed a bit by everything else going on in the Middle East. It is called Women2Drive and is a collection of women who defy the law in protest. As a supporter of freedom I congratulate them and wish them the best of luck in their cause.

Big changes can often have simple beginnings. The American Civil Rights movement was started by a simple church going woman who was too tired to move to the back of a bus. The Arab Spring was started by a simple street vendor who tried to stand up to police bullying. Who knows what these driving women can accomplish in a country that oppresses women more than almost any other.

Check it out: