In a landmark decision, Saudi Arabia will now allow women to drive for the first time.
Saudi King Salman on Tuesday ordered that women be allowed to drive cars, ending a conservative tradition which was seen as an emblem of the Islamic kingdom’s repression of women.
The kingdom has been widely criticized for being the only country in the world that bans women from driving.
The royal decree ordered the formation of a ministerial body to give advice within 30 days and implement the order by June 24, 2018, according to state news agency SPA.
It stipulated that the move must “apply and adhere to the necessary Sharia standards,” referring to Islamic law. It gave no details but said a majority of the Council of Senior Religious Scholars, Saudi Arabia’s top clerical body, had given its approval.
Saudi ambassador to Washington Prince Khaled bin Salman said it was “an historic and big day in our kingdom.”
“Our leadership thinks that this is the right time to do this change because currently in Saudi Arabia we have a young, dynamic, open society,” he told reporters. “There’s no wrong time to do the right thing.”
Salman also clarified that now women won’t need permission legally from a male guardian to get a driver’s license and won’t need a guardian in the vehicle with them to drive. He further added that Saudi Arabia will recognize driver’s licenses issued to women in other Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
The ambassador, however, said the decision to let women drive wasn’t put into effect at the request of the US and that the issue did not come up for discussion during President Donald Trump’s recent visit to the kingdom.
Since the 1990s, women’s rights activists have been pushing for the right to drive, arguing that it reflects their larger struggle for equality under the rule of law.
US President Donald Trump has also praised Saudi Arabia’s decision to allow women to drive. The statement from the White House press secretary’s office says Trump viewed the change as “a positive step toward promoting the rights and opportunities of women in Saudi Arabia”.
Saudi Arabia is working to improve its image and the perception of its human rights record in the United States and the West.
The position of Saudi women gradually improved under late King Abdullah and since King Salman took over in 2015, the kingdom has been opening more areas for women through the government’s modernizing reforms.
