Saudi women are gearing up for a day of action to challenge the kingdom's ban on female driving, amid signs of slowly growing readiness by the authorities to consider reform in the face ofstrong opposition by the clerical establishment.
Twitter, Facebook and other social media have been used to get women drivers on the roads on Saturday in a marathon push against this unique restriction.
Activists say they have 16,600 signatures on an online petition calling for change. Efforts to publicise the issue by the "October 26 driving for women" group have been described as the best-organised social campaign ever seen in Saudi Arabia, where Twitter has millions of users and is used to circulate information about the monarchy and official corruption.
Now the mainstream press is getting involved too, a telling indication of a thaw on this issue. "It's time to end this absurd debate about women driving," wrote Dr Thuraya al-Arid in al-Jazirah newspaper. In another paper, al-Sharq al-Awsat, Mshari Al-Zaydi said: "The time has come to turn the page on the past and discuss this issue openly." Read on and comment » | Ian Black, Middle East editor | Friday, October 25, 2013
My comment:
I'm all for Saudi women having the right to drive; in fact, it is an outrage that they cannot already. But one word of caution: Saudi men, starved as they are of female contact, can be lecherous when they come into contact with women. So I have this to ask: If Saudi women were to be allowed to drive, how safe would they be driving alone on the roads of Saudi Arabia? Many will surely become targets of starved men. – © Mark
