In Saudi Arabia, women are still not allowed to drive:
Fourteen years ago on Saturday, 47 Saudi women defied a strict ban on driving in the ultra-conservative kingdom by roaming the capital behind the wheel. The daring drivers were swiftly rounded up by police and punished, but many remain unrepentant to this day.
“I am ready to take part in a demonstration right now,” said one former participant.
Women are still not allowed to drive in oil-rich Saudi Arabia, despite the absence of any specific law banning them from the driver’s seat.
“I still believe in the idea. It is a right that I will continue to demand,” the protester added, requesting anonymity. […]
Women in Saudi Arabia, who have to cover from head to toe in public and cannot mix with men other than relatives, are subjected to a number of other restrictions, including not being able to travel alone.
Although the government started issuing separate identity cards in 2001, Saudi women cannot obtain such documents without the approval of a male guardian such as a husband or father.
Nor do they have the right to vote or run for public office. The Interior Ministry recently dashed women’s rights activists’ hopes of participating in landmark local elections, due in February, saying it was “not in the cards.”
But change may be on the horizon, as economic pressure forces authorities to recognize women as a part of the work force, at least potentially.
The Saudi government in June lifted a ban on women holding jobs in most fields, allowing them to obtain commercial licenses and ordering ministries to create jobs for women.
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