This week there was an interesting development in the case for Saudi women driving in Saudi Arabia. A Saudi woman, Manal al-Sharif, made a daring statement to the country and to the world by videoing herself driving around her city of Dhahran and posting it on YouTube (in Arabic).
The Al Jazeera news report in English provides a good summary of the story.
Unfortunately, she was very quickly picked up by the police and questioned, however, they face a difficult task as the authorities don’t seem to know what to do with her and what exact laws she has broken. It seems that while there are numerous fatwas issued against women driving, the legal side of the story is not as clear. A fairly concise list of the reasons given by the religious clerics for women not being able to drive is presented on Saudiwoman’s Weblog.
Interestingly, a number of other reports have come out at the same time about women taking control of their own transport:
Woman driver surprised by society’s reaction
Saudi woman caught driving in Qassim
Even King Abdullah said in 2005, in an interview with Barbara Walters,
“I believe strongly in the rights of women,” the king said during his first television interview since acceding to the Saudi throne on Aug. 1. “I believe the day will come when women drive. In time, I believe it will be possible. And I believe patience is a virtue.”
Personally, relying on a driver to get anywhere in the city is a nuisance for many reasons. If you want your specific driver to pick you up and take you somewhere you need to plan and book the driver at least 30 minutes in advance to allow for time for them to get to you. As I don’t necessarily plan the exact time that I finish work this means that hailing one of the city’s numerous taxis is more convenient. The lack of real addresses here means that having the driver actually know where you want to go can be somewhat tricky. Many times I have gotten into a taxi with the assurance of the driver that he knows where I want to go, only to be asked half way through the trip for exact directions to my location. Since I don’t drive, speak very little Arabic and have no idea what the street names are this can turn into a very frustrating task. It also means that if you see a shop you would like to visit that isn’t near a major landmark (ie, a mall, supermarket, major road) it is basically too much effort to try and get there again.
Other times I have booked a driver only to have them turn up at the wrong place to pick me up or drive me in the wrong direction because they weren’t listening when I told them where I want to go. This makes the whole effort of getting to the shops an undesirable task and definitely not something I wish to do just to pick up a litre of milk. Instead, most women seem to try and do their shopping in bulk at a place where they can tick off a number of tasks at the one time to avoid unnecessary trips.
As to the horrific state of the traffic on the road, I believe that Saudi women could disprove the old belief that ‘women can’t drive’ by injecting some order into the chaos that fills the roads in Riyadh. Especially if it means sacking the millions of foreign drivers we need to get around. I can only hope that there are more brave women who will stand up and say that the ban on women driving is insane and publicly push for change. This is an argument that has been going on in the country for far too long.
Hooray for Manal! I agree more women should stand up to this and they will watch. Found your blog today on a list of someone who follows my blog. Its great to read about your life there in the Kingdom. I know its probably crazy sometimes, as it is here in Cairo.
Hi Stacy, cool blog you have here. Very simple and basic yet informative. Erm, well I'm from a muslim country myself but which crack head say that driving is not allowed? I mean, I know Islamic rules quite basically but there no such thing as driving is haram. Well, maybe the guys fear that women will become F1 drivers, I guess? Lol. Smile always.P.S – Hope you can visit my blog and leave a comment at any time.
The lack of addresses is particularly frustrating. And I don't know how many times I've gotten into a taxi when the driver waved me in with the assurance that he knows where such and such a compound is…only to find that he has no idea. And he even admits this. That's the point where he hooks into the Saudi equivalent of GPS, which I call CPS — Cabdriver Positioning System — which is basically your driver calling up his buddies to get directions. This is followed by RPS — Roadside Positioning System — which is your cabbie stopping by the side of road, calling out a few "asalaam alaikums" and asking whoever's passing by how to get to the destination.Alas, there are distressing new developments to the Manal al-Sharif story.
Hah. So very true. I always get a bit concerned when the taxi driver picks up his phone as soon as he's left the curb and calls his friend. Its either going to go well or very very bad from there on.Though I have to say that I successfully navigated between the uni and work last week using my limited Arabic skills and knowledge of some landmarks close to my destination. I'm getting better at this.