On June 24, Saudi Arabia will lift its ban on women drivers after years of protests. Paul Workman is reporting from Riyadh, where preparations for the change are underway.

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- “We want to drive. We are waiting for the time that we will start to drive.”

Her name is Nuwayer and all you can see is her eyes. The rest is covered in black. A personal choice she says, not a requirement. She is with six or eight other young women dressed the same. They are cruising a mall in Riyadh.

She has already bought a car; all she needs now is a licence.

“We will be independent,” she says, “and we can manage our life by ourselves. That is the most important thing.”

Important, but not quite true. Saudi women are still subject to guardianship laws that give men power over their lives. But change is happening, and the right to drive is a big one. Partial emancipation.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the real power in Saudi Arabia, is behind this drive to modernize his kingdom. Expanding women’s rights is a big part of it. He has loosened the dress code, allowed women to join the army and police, re-opened movie theatres -- nothing short of bold steps in perhaps the most conservative nation on earth.

So why then did he recently round up 17 women’s rights activists who have campaigned since the early ‘90s for the right to drive? Half of them are still in custody. One newspaper branded them as traitors.

“The crackdown is creating a chill.”

That comes from Jacqueline Hansen at Amnesty International in Ottawa.

“How can a reform be serious when on the one hand you allow women to drive and on the other hand, you detain all the activists incommunicado who have advocated for so long and so peacefully for that very right?”

It’s hardly an issue for the young women learning to drive at Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University. They are the first in the country to get their licences and thankful for the opportunity.

“It will help me to take the children to school,” says Ahlam Alquout, who first learned to drive while living in Canada. “It will help me to do what I want faster.”

There is one street in Riyadh where men like to cruise in their cars after dark. It’s jammed with cafes and people strolling when it’s cooler. And where women will soon be able to cruise as well.

That’s where we ran into Njoud whose head is loosely covered and her abaya has some colour to it. Young and with a driving permit in her pocket.

“We’re more confident now,” she says. “I am proud of the women here. This is a huge step for Saudi Arabia.”