Banned From Behind the Wheel

After growing up in America, it is hard to believe that there are people in the world that are still fighting for their rights from the government. Here, American citizens have the same rights, male or female, but the same cannot be said for other countries. Gender disparities in rights and laws are most prominent in North Africa and the Middle East. One particular inequality takes place in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s strictest countries when it comes to women and family rules. They usually stem from religion (which is something I’m going to look into). However, one law in the country has recently been heavily protested.

Women cannot drive.

They cannot drive. I do not even want to think about how my life would be if I could not drive now, let alone for the rest of my life. This ban on driving limits women in everything they do. Granted they are allowed to drive in emergency situations, such as driving a family member to the hospital, but other than that they are not allowed behind the wheel.

In the last five years the women of Saudi Arabia have been voicing their unrest through social media. In fact, is October of 2013, sixty women took the wheel and documented it. Videos were posted on youtube and pictures were sent out on twitter and instagram. This brought in a world wide audience. Finally the struggles of Saudi women were receiving recognition. Within the country, the police did little to stop the protest. No women were arrested and it was mostly internally ignored.

However, in December of 2014, two women were not ignored. On the first, Loujain al-Hathloul and Maysa al-Amoud were arrested for driving and put in jail. After a month of being locked up (the longest for female drivers in the history of the country), the women were put on trial to be tried for terrorism charges. These are the first women to have such extreme charges (a woman was sentenced to 10 lashes in 2011, but had it revoked by the King). Loujain and Maysa are not being charged because of the driving, though. They are being charged with terrorism because of their acts on social media. The specifics of the case have not been revealed, but the idea is that the women have gone against the ideals of the country’s culture and government. The verdict for this case has not been reached yet, but hopefully the courts realize that terrorism could and is so much worse than two women behind the wheel of a vehicle.

(Loujain al-Hathloul driving before her arrest)

There is evidence that Saudi Arabia is leaning towards changing the ban towards women, but this leaning could take a long time. The only way for these women to get their right is to keep it in the world wide discussion. World wide pressure can quicken a government to take action. With the majority of the world having equal gender rights, it should not be hard to get a rise or change in Saudi.

This has just been one of many differences of men and women in other countries outside of North America. I plan on looking into others and finding the root of the problem. As for Saudi Arabian women, I hope they continue to fight peacefully for their right to drive. It is a simple act of independence that all humans should have. 

Article on Loujain and Maysa Here.