Fifty-Year-Old Woman Involed in Car Accident
JEDDAH, 2 March 2005 — An old woman caused a car accident when she was driving her car from one province to another. In her 50s, she drove the car to return to her husband. While driving at high speed she lost control and ran down a vehicle driven by a Sudani. Police arrived on the scene and concluded that the blame for the accident was 50 percent each. Unsurprised at the woman driver, the policemen commented that women driving in that province had became quite normal.
The simple claim that Saudi Arabia doesn’t permit women to drive is just that, simple. And not quite right, either.
The fact is that many Saudi women do drive, especially in rural areas. They don’t drive in urban areas, where they’re likely to be harrassed by others, be they police, religious police, or officious civilians.
Women drive pickups and small trucks, moving livestock and fodder around or moving between camps. They drive out of necessity and emergencies, too.
One of the news stories that caught my eye when I returned to the KSA after a 20-year gap was about a woman who drove her husband, who’d had a heart attack, to a hospital. What was surprising was the tone of the article. She was being praised for using her common sense and not holding back because of possible social condemnation.
This is another front on which women are pushing, in their own ways, to get the society at large to realize that a driver’s license is not synonymous with a license to sell sex.
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March:02:2005 - 09:35
Women Drivers in Saudi Arabia?
What next, a burka that doesn’t cover the ankles?…
[Reply: Silly boy... Saudi women don't wear burkas... you find those in Afghanistan!]
March:02:2005 - 11:03
Women Drivers in Saudi Arabia
John at Crossroads Arabia has an interesting piece on the fact that, contrary to Western perception, women actually do drive cars in Saudi Arabia:
The fact is that many Saudi women do drive, especially in rural areas. They don’t drive in urban area…
March:03:2005 - 10:33
Someone who is 50 is ‘old’? Just wondering, do you know what the average lifespan is in the Kingdom?
March:03:2005 - 13:21
Mary: I think the answer is really a subjective one. On quantitative grounds, the CIA World Factbook says:
But the question is more of attitude. Those who live comfortable, healthy lives–i.e., urban Saudis–live longer. Those who live in rural areas live shorter lives.
So in a rural context, 50 might be old. A 50-y/o woman, in a rural area, probably grew up with poor nutrition, poor access to health care, immunizations, etc. If she started having children at 16, even a greater health (and appearance) toll could be expected.
Of course, this isn’t exclusively a Saudi phenomenon; it applies in all developing countries–or all countries while they were developing.