Women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to drive a vehicle on public roads, or anywhere else for that matter. But that has not stopped many from doing just that. In fact there have been campaigns bolstered by social media by women to get females behind the wheel and have their driving experiences recorded and uploaded onto YouTube.

There have been two such campaigns in the past couple of years led by female activists that have attracted a lot of publicity both domestically as well as in other countries. Many of these countries fail to understand how a country that is spending massively to advance its infrastructure and populace continues to deny women this basic right.

The campaigns had encouraged many females to discard the shackles of male authority and get on the road. But there have also been tragic results. Just last month, a young Saudi woman was killed in a car crash in the capital Riyadh as she defied the kingdom’s long-standing ban on female driving. The woman, in her 20s, lost control of her vehicle and crashed into the wall of a youth club. The car caught fire and she died before any help could come her way.

This deadly accident was not the first of its kind involving a female driver. Last year a fatal accident claimed the life of another young woman out alone in her car in the eastern province. A couple of years ago another female driver was injured and her companions killed when their car overturned in the northern part of the country.

Women’s rights activists have been making frequent calls to challenge the ban and those who do so continue to post online videos showing themselves behind the wheel. Unfortunately for some, it does have a tragic end. Perhaps it is inexperience or the fear of being caught that leads to an error in judgement and some end up paying the ultimate price.

Unnatural culture

Opposition to their right behind the wheel has long been documented by members of the religious police and the kingdom’s conservative establishment. They are the staunchest bastions of opposition when it comes to women’s issues and female empowerment, and many of them claim that driving is a ‘path to vice and social degradation’. In recent months however, the chief of the religious police stated that it was not for his organisation to mandate the law but simply to uphold it.

It is this law that has created an unnatural culture of dependency on millions of expatriate male drivers, many who get behind the wheel for the first time in their host country. Add to that the social and cultural disparity as a result of this large group of unskilled expatriates that reside in practically every home and social development takes a back seat as do the female passengers.

Mahmoud Ahmad, a Saudi writer and journalist, wrote: “Those who argue against women driving mainly claim that Saudi society is not yet ready for women to drive. They claim that the infrastructure for women driving is not yet established. They claim that women who drive alone will be at risk of being harassed and sometimes attacked. A simple argument they use when comparing men and women driving is to ask whether a woman would be able to change a tyre if she were stuck in a remote area. Would she be able to deal with any mechanical issue if the car broke down on the side of the road? My response to these people would be: Can all men do the things we are asking of women? Think it over and you’ll realise that it answers these negative questions.”

Disbelief

Mahmoud contends that “Saudi society needs to get used to this issue. But to get used to it, we need to allow it first. Society accepted the education of women over a period of time. Society accepted satellite dishes, which some people wanted banned, and they are now in every home. Let the same action be taken for women driving. For a start, women above the age of 35 should be allowed to drive within the city. The time may come when we tell our grandchildren that once upon a time women were not allowed to drive in our country, and they will laugh at us in disbelief.”

Whenever I get on the topic of women and driving in Saudi Arabia, I am often reminded of a song by Bob Dylan titled, Blowin’ In The Wind. It starts with the lyrics, ‘How many roads must a man walk down, before you call him a man?’ In the case of Saudi women, it would be apt to ask, ‘How many roads must a woman travel, before she can be allowed to drive on her own?’

Tariq A. Al Maeena is a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@talmaeena