THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: What tells us more about Saudi Arabia – the knowledge that it remains the only country in the world where women are banned from driving, or that an increasing number of women are prepared to take the risk of openly flouting the rule?
Manal al-Sharif, 32, was arrested at the weekend after posting a dramatic YouTube video – mundane anywhere else – of herself at the wheel in her home city of Khobar. But then her weekday life as a computer security consultant hardly squares with the popular image of the repressed Saudi woman either.
Much has been written about the Arab Spring this year, and Saudi Arabia has become its leading opponent. It offered asylum to President Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali of Tunisia, backed President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt to the hilt, and sent troops to crush protests in neighbouring Bahrain.
But in its own way it started the whole process off. Since King Abdullah, the current monarch, came to the throne in 2005 he has eased restrictions on freedom of speech and particularly on women, encouraging them to study and work.
He opened Saudi Arabia's first mixed sex university, and even appointed a woman minister.
In return a small but growing band of middle-class professional women have both expressed gratitude and used the opportunity to press for further reforms, big and small. » | Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent | Monday, May 23, 2011
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