Women drivers ...

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From the New York Times

Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday that it would allow women to drive, ending a longstanding policy that has become a global symbol of the oppression of women in the ultraconservative kingdom.

And not before time ...

[TaplowGreen]

From the New York Times

Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday that it would allow women to drive, ending a longstanding policy that has become a global symbol of the oppression of women in the ultraconservative kingdom.

And not before time ...

Serious point - women commonly are obliged by family/tradition to wear the niqab in Saudi Arabia when out of the house.............surely this compromises their (and others) safety whilst driving in terms of restricted peripheral vision?

[chrisr_75]

From the New York Times

Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday that it would allow women to drive, ending a longstanding policy that has become a global symbol of the oppression of women in the ultraconservative kingdom.

And not before time ...

Serious point - women commonly are obliged by family/tradition to wear the niqab in Saudi Arabia when out of the house.............surely this compromises their (and others) safety whilst driving in terms of restricted peripheral vision?

Given what I have heard about the appalling general standards of driving in the middle east, I don't think niqab wearing is likely to make a lot of difference!

[Tim]

An Arabic colleague of mine who has lived in SA (and hated it because of how she was treated as a woman).  Is sceptical of this change.  She says it is likely that foreign women will be allowed to drive but locals only if their males guardians permit it (which most will not)