In a recent episode of Saudi Arabia’s most popular television show, broadcast during Ramzan, a Saudi man of the future is seen sitting in his house as his daughter pulls into the driveway, her children piled into the back seat.
“Where have you been?” the father asks.

“The kids were bored so I took them to the movies,” she replies, matter-of-factly.

The scene may appear mundane, but in Saudi Arabia, where women are forbidden to drive — and, by the way, where there are no movie theatres, either — the skit portends something of a revolution. From a taboo about which there could be no open discussion, a woman’s right to drive is developing into a topic of growing and lively debate.

Coming after other recent changes — women may now travel abroad without male accompaniment (though male permission is still required), earn graduate degrees in law and engineering, seek divorce and own companies — the driving discussion is noteworthy. Whether it means women will actually be driving soon remains to be seen.
“We are telling everyone this is coming, whether today or tomorrow,” said Abdallah al-Sadhan, producer, writer and host of Tash Ma Tash (No Big Deal), a variety comedy show that is broadcast during the month of Ramzan and addresses controversial social issues in Saudi Arabia.

Most recently, a group of Saudi women has led an ambitious petition drive asking the king to repeal the ban on driving by women, placing the issue at the heart of a discussion about modernity and Saudi Arabia’s place in the world. And the government, which was hostile toward the last such petition in 1990, now seems mildly receptive.
Some Saudi officials and religious men agree with the women that Islam does not forbid women to drive. In the past, Saudi women were able to move freely on camel and horseback, and Bedouin women in the desert openly drive pickup trucks far from the public eye. Two years ago, Mohammad al-Zulfa, a member of the Shura, the consultative council, suggested that the council consider allowing women to drive, causing an uproar.

Because of the rising cost of living in Saudi Arabia, women have been entering the work force in large numbers. That in turn has given them new economic clout in the family and provided them with greater leverage.

The driving debate, many hope, may also open the door a small crack to discussion of other restrictions on women in the kingdom, including having them dine in segregated sections in restaurants and work in segregated sections in offices. Women are also paid less than men. Saudi women say the seeming momentum behind the issue is fuelled in part by what they can now see and read about the freedoms of women abroad on satellite television and the internet.

Still, few expect any change to come soon. Even women’s advocates noted that the lifting of the ban will necessarily mean much preparation and public education, both for women and men.
NYT