Wheels of Change

How one Saudi woman defied the authorities and took to the street -- by driving her Hummer.

BY ELLEN KNICKMEYER | JUNE 17, 2011

RIYADH — Thirty-nine-year-old Maha al-Qahtani stepped out of her bedroom of her family's apartment about 9:30 a.m. Friday. Her lipstick was on, her hair swept back. A folded prayer rug and packed overnight bag were tucked under her arms, in case Maha -- a Saudi wife, mother and IT specialist -- was about to begin an extended stint in jail.

Maha turned to her husband Mohammed al-Qahtani, waiting for her in the living room.

"Yalla," she said. "Let's go."

With that -- and a nervous burst of laughter between the couple a few minutes later when her husband handed her the car keys -- Maha moved to the vanguard in what is currently the hottest political issue in Saudi Arabia, where lavish public-welfare programs have helped tame the unrest roiling much of the Arab world.

Saudi activists, encouraged by the Arab Spring and by the outlets for expression offered through Facebook and Twitter, declared Friday a day for Saudi women to take to the streets, behind steering wheels.

Saudi Arabia remains perhaps the only country in the world where women are banned from driving -- even though no law explicitly bars Saudi women from driving. Saudi leaders from King Abdullah on down have said they believe Saudi women should be allowed to drive. 

Inside and outside Saudi Arabia, some tend to see the ban as a frivolous issue -- the stereotype being a Saudi woman princess in sunglasses wanting a little independence as she drives to Starbucks for a latte.

Activists and writers like Eman Fahad al Nafjan, a blogger, doctoral student, and mother in Riyadh, call the impact of the ban profound, saying that it limits women's mobility into female employment and education, despite efforts by King Abdullah to boost both. And in a kingdom that the International Labor Organization says is the only country in the Gulf Cooperation Council with a significant poverty rate, the ban is a drain on the resources of women, forcing many households to pay thousands of dollars a year for drivers, opponents say.

Saudi's religious fundamentalists are dead opposed to lifting the ban. Their support for the monarchy is typically seen as essential to the kingdom's stability.

"In Egypt the issue is the constitution, civil rights, democracy" -- matters that challenged the very existence of the Egyptian government, Nafjan, the blogger, said over coffee on the eve of the protest.

Here, "our issue is no threat to the government -- whether women drive or not," Nafjan said. With the biggest controversy in the kingdom being such a mild one, "the Saudi strategy is to prolong it" rather than clear it out of the way, Nafjan argued, lest a potentially more existential threat to Saudi's monarchy move forward as the next hot issue.

Calls for and against Friday's driving protest were the greatest since 1990, when groups of Saudi women publicly took the wheel of their cars amid the regional upheaval of the Gulf War. Saudi authorities retaliated by trying to block those women from jobs and patronage, and isolate them and their families.

FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images

 SUBJECTS: WOMEN, SAUDI ARABIA
 

Ellen Knickmeyer is a former Washington Post Middle East bureau chief and Associated Press Africa bureau chief. The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting contributed to the costs of reporting this article.

MR FRED

5:47 AM ET

June 18, 2011

Stunted by the Religious Right

It seems as though Saudi Arabia has tried hard to embrace the social equality of the modern world, but continues to be held back by the religious right. It may sound a little "western" to say, but I find it difficult to take Saudi Arabia seriously as a country when they have this ridiculous custom of not allowing women to drive. And whilst it may not be enshrined in law directly, women cannot take out car insurance policies, or takaful, and it is illegal to drive without adequate cover. The religious right would be able to spread their Islamic message so much more successfully if they were able to modernize, if only by a few hundred years.

 

ANYFICTIONALNAME

10:55 PM ET

June 18, 2011

Come on, what do you mean by the religious right in Saudi!?

There is this deal between the ruling family of Saudi Arabia and the religious establishment. It goes like this: You (the phony religious clerks) get to police the ordinary people and humiliate them as you like, and we (the house of Saud) get to rule you all (The phony religious clerks + the ordinary people).... This whole saga of women driving a is ridiculous simulation of the Arab spring in Saudi Arabia, i mean they gotta taste it at least.

You think that all women in Saudi get jailed at house, and never allowed to go out without wearing this ninja custom? That applies only to the ordinary middle class (what is remaining of it) + the poor. Those towns that inhabited by princes and their entourage are much like Dubai or Bahrain in its liberalism, good pubs, young girls, are all available! Guards have the order shoot to kill if those religious bearded clerks would step a foot in those towns.

Saudi Arabia is the best example of todays Orwellian state, where the ruling oligarchy (the top princes in the house of Saud) decide what people wear, what they study, what they read, what they watch etc. The worst nightmare of this family is the internet, so far they couldn't find an invention that let them control it effectively.

 

ANYFICTIONALNAME

6:34 PM ET

June 19, 2011

Saudi women driving ban, typical Western hypocrisy at best!

I remember in the nighties, we used to watch documentaries on the repression of women in Afghanistan under the rule of Taliban..... We saw how those women wore that full dress cover that allows only the eyes to be visible... That time, and till now, Taliban is an enemy of the West and the US...

You turn your eyes to Saudi Arabia (2nd most important ally to the US in the middle east), and you see the worst record of women abuse in the region (far much worse than the axis of evil countries like Iran) ... you wonder why the media does not report that often, why we don't see documentaries on CNN and ABC about the suffering of women in this country!

Last year, media outcry throughout the world was deafening the ear, the story of stoning to death a women (Suraya) In Iran who was accused of adultery and killing her husband by the authorities... For months, you would see a story about this women on a weekly basis.. Brazil at the top level intervened to host that women in order to save her from this cruel punishment.... at last, the authorities cancelled the verdict.

You wonder how many Surayas are in Saudi Arabia? And why don't we hear about them? Since Saudi Arabia is implementing Sharia law, they must have those cruel medieval methods of punishing offenders (including flogging, beheading)... Yet when it comes to Saudi Arabia, you hear the silly argument, that every country is different, and the West should not intervene to criticize other countries for their different cultures and customs!

 

SREEKANTH

8:16 PM ET

June 19, 2011

It's true that Saudi Arabia

It's true that Saudi Arabia is an ally as well as being an important supplier of an important raw material, so western governments tread carefully. But the media have occasionally shown some backbone, even going back as far as 1980 and the British / WGBH TV film, Death of a Princess.

 

LOVECOFFM

4:07 AM ET

July 16, 2011

Wheels of Change

How one Saudi woman defied the authorities and took to the street -- by driving her Hummer. I remember in the nighties, we used to watch documentaries on the repression of women in Afghanistan under the rule of Taliban..... We saw how those women wore that full dress cover that allows only the eyes to be visible... That time, and till now, Taliban is an enemy of the West and the US... You turn your eyes to Saudi Arabia (2nd most important ally to the US in the middle east), and you see t in vitro fertilization It's true that Saudi Arabia is an ally as well as being an important supplier of an important raw material, so western governments tread carefully. But the media have occasionally shown some backbone, even going back as far as 1980 and the British / WGBH TV film, Death of a Princess..

 

JOHNEY_BOY

9:04 AM ET

July 17, 2011

You think that all women in

You think that all women in Saudi get jailed at house, and never allowed to go out without wearing this ninja custom? That applies only to the ordinary middle class (what is remaining of it) + the poor AdjustableDumbbells. Those towns that inhabited by princes and their entourage are much like Dubai or Bahrain in its liberalism, good pubs, young girls, are all available! Guards have the order shoot to kill if those religious bearded clerks would step a foot in those towns.