Women must now be allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia since such a ban is fundamentally an infringement on a woman’s rights, said Saudi billionnaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

“It is high time that Saudi women started driving their cars, and it is high time that we turn the page on this issue the way we did on tens of other major ones that this country and the world have witnessed in the last 100 years, the chairman of Kingdom Holding Company said in a Twitter comment, that was alos posted on his website (https://www.alwaleed.com.sa/news-and-media/news/driving)

“When Saudi girls ventured into the world of education half a century ago, some people saw it as the beginning of a progression that would lead them from primary education into universities and ultimately into the workplace. Such individuals were keen on accelerating this process, for they wished to see women become full partners with men, not only in raising families, but also in the development of their country. On the other hand, there were others who objected to such a transformation, fearing that this would lead to unwelcome consequences. The Saudi state, however, sought to adopt a patient strategy, allowing Saudi society to evolve according to its own pace and wishes.

“A few years ago, a young man wishing to get married shunned being betrothed to a working woman. There was a social stigma associated with having a working wife, for it could suggest to cousins and kin that he was incapable of providing on his own for her and their children. This attitude has now radically changed, not because of any particular religious fatwas, but because of social, and particularly economic, transformations that have slowly propelled society to accept what it had previously rejected. Today, a working woman is a coveted partner in marriage,” said Prince Alwaleed.

“Preventing a woman from driving a car is today an issue of rights similar to the one that forbade her from receiving an education or having an independent identity. They are all unjust acts by a traditional society, far more restrictive than what is lawfully allowed by the precepts of religion. Such a ban on driving is fundamentally an infringement on a woman’s rights, particularly as it continues to exist after she had won her right to an education and a salaried employment,” he said.

Beyond being a rights issue, it is also an economic, developmental and social one, he continued. The 2015 statistics issued by the Ministry of Labor and Social Development revealed that there were 1,589,177 working women in Saudi Arabia, largely located in the major cities. “Whether one subscribes or not to this figure we can safely assume that there are more than one million Saudi women in need of a safe means of transportation to take them to work every morning. Public transport is not, at least at present, a fully viable means for them, for even Saudi men do not as a whole use it. The proper solution is to allow them to drive. Otherwise, they would have to remain dependent on foreign drivers, an alternative that exacts a cost from the family’s income, or else continue to take cabs, which are also costly, and driven by foreign drivers, which is a situation that is a source of concern to many Muslims who see it as a violation of Sharia law,” he added.

“There is the added fact that there are always numerous errands that mothers need to attend to vis-à-vis their families. Without their being able to drive, it often falls upon the men to leave their work obligations to take their wives and children to clinics and other destinations, something that women could do on their own. This situation obviously takes its toll on the national economy for it undermines the productivity of the work force. There are also situations where the housewife becomes the sole family income earner, either because of the loss of a husband or his physical incapacity.

“It should be noted that retaining foreign drivers not only has the effect of reducing a family’s disposable income, particularly at a time when many earners have seen cutbacks in various allowances, but also contributes to the syphoning of billions of riyals every year from the Saudi economy to foreign destinations in the form of remittances,” Alwaleed cautioned.

Given the above, many affected families have been raising their voices calling for women to be allowed to drive cars in Saudi Arabia, something that is now considered a necessity, he said.

In the past, many of those who called for women to drive had their voices muffled by the social objections that were raised and by the notion that allowing them to drive was more of a luxury than a necessity. Today, however, circumstances have changed, and having women to drive has become an urgent social demand predicated upon current economic circumstances.

“I call upon those who may have been blessed with influence and prosperity, and who may find what I propose as objectionable, to put themselves in the shoes of those with the limited means of middle class families, or those of low incomes, and who can ill afford the onerous financial burdens that accompany the hiring of a foreign driver. It is for them that I am advocating the cause of women driving. It is also because of my concern for the economic well-being and social welfare of our beloved country, Saudi Arabia,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service