Saudi Women To Drive June 2018

Saudi Ambassador Prince Khalid bin Salman told reporters yesterday Tuesday, at Saudi Arabia Embassy in Washington that King Salman has issued a Royal decree lifting the ban stopping Saudi women to drive. The decree is set to take effect summer 2018.

Saudi is the only country in the world that restricts women from driving. Till date, there is still restriction on women applying directly for international passports. They must receive permission from the  a male in their life - “Guardianship”. This could be there husband, father, brother, uncles and even there own sons.

King Salman

A woman’s chores and mobility goes in a similar way. She is usually driven by a male relative. In the absence of a relative she could use a male driver. Yet she has to leave with permission from her guardian. This ban is only one, amongst other strict restrictions on women.

In 1990 a group of 50 women including Madeha al Ajroush initiated a protest against the driving ban. Again in 2011, another group lead by Manal al-Shari pulled their vehicles out of the driveway and drove off into the streets of Riyadh. This was followed by a huge government backlash. The women were arrested and jailed. They all lost their jobs and remained jobless as a punitive measure to forestall such civil disturbance.

Amnesty Group Protesting Against Ban

In 2014, Loujain Hathloul was arrested and detained for close to 3 months for attempting to drive into Saudi territory from United Arab Emirates.



Commentators on the recent development are keenly of the opinion that the motive for lifting the ban could be related to the Kingdom’s economy. The Oil rich state has thousands of Pakistanis and Bangladeshi drivers. Meaning that millions of dollars are yearly repatriated from the Kingdom.

Another opinion relates it the development to current trend, Saudi is been modernizing . Women make up arguably a large population of the workforce. Its becoming rather eventful to get all these women to their work places and get them back home. These working women also complain that a sizeable part of the income goes to paying drivers’ and other means of transport. The need for a changing society warrants such decision by the monarchy to rescind the ban.

This change can be related to women currently occupying prominent offices in the Kingdom’s government. The first woman to be appointed in the cabinet is Norah bint Abdallah Al Faiz in 2009.

In 2015 local council election women were allowed to vote for the first time in the country’s history.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman

Change can also be related to the Monarchy. The King consolidated the throne in the hands of an inner royal family member, his son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The king’s 32-year-old son, has pledged to diversify the economy from oil and bring innovative ideas into the government.

This pronouncement inadvertently brings solace to numerous Saudi women are getting set to drive summer 2018. And it readily portray King Salman as making every crucial effort to balance state, tradition and religion.

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