Arab News picks up and further develops a story originally noted here last week about a new organization in Saudi Arabia promoting women’s right to drive themselves. This piece features discussions with Fawzehay Al-Oyouni, the wife of human rights activist Ali Domaini.
The article points out the paradox of preventing women from driving, though there is no law stopping them. The reason behind the ban is to protect women by keeping them away from strange men. But because they cannot drive, they must be driven. Saudi men do not have the time to drive their female family members everywhere they want to go, so drivers must be hired. The drivers, almost always from a foreign country, are clearly not related to the women. So by not permitting women to drive, society is pushing them into a ’sinful’ situation of being with unrelated men! Self-contradictory? You bet! Amenable to solution? Not yet!
Saudi Women Petitioning Govt for Driving Rights
Ebtihal Mubarak, Arab NewsJEDDAH, 16 September 2007 — A group of Saudi women plan to give a petition to the government asking to be allowed to drive cars. The organizers say the petition would be sent to the government on Sept. 23, the Saudi National Day.
“We demand that the right of women to drive is given back to us,†says the petition. “It’s a right that was enjoyed by our mothers and grandmothers in complete freedom to (utilize) the means of transportation in those times.â€
The petition, which has been posted on different Saudi websites and circulated through e-mails for the past few weeks, asks not only Saudis but also people from around the world to sign their names.
“Women are in urgent need of driving; it’s a basic need,†said one of the petition drive’s organizers, Fawzeyah Al-Oyouni, a human rights activist and wife of poet Ali Domaini.
“Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah said previously that it is not a political issue, it is a social one, and that the government does not object (to women driving),†she said.
Government officials made statements last year indicating that the decision of women driving is up to society and not the repeal of any law. Indeed, there is no law in the Kingdom that explicitly states that women cannot drive.
The ban comes from a strict interpretation of the woman’s need to be with a legal guardian (a mahram) in public.
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September:16:2007 - 08:28
Yes, but the underlying racist assumption here is that no Saudi lady would be interested in a Pakistani, African, or other non Arab. Many view them almost as “castratos” even. That is why many Saudi men, who would never leave their wife alone with even their brother, would let them spend hours with a foreign driver.
It is the 600 pound guerilla in the room that no one seems to mention.
Too bad for these types that it is not unheard of for a Saudi lady to get up to no good with the foreign help. Too bad for the ladies that it isnt as accepted as it is for the man of the house to take liberal use of the female domestic help.
The driving issue itself isnt a religious one, like a large chunk of what is passed off as religion in the Kingdom, it is a cultural issue.
September:16:2007 - 08:28
The actual and sensible reason why women aren’t allowed to drive is simply because that’s the Saudis’ choice (both men and women)!
Why don’t we respect the majority’s choice?!
And why do you think she asks “people from around the world to sign their names”?
Do you see acting against the majority’s will a reform?
September:16:2007 - 08:28
The question of whether Saudi women want to drive is a good one. The answer is not simple. Many Saudi women do want to drive—their husbands, who have to break out of work to drive them around, want them to drive also.
But many other Saudi women—maybe even a majority—do not want to drive for numerous reasons.
The real issue is whether all should be penalized because some, even a majority, don’t like something. That something, driving, is not illegal, it’s not unIslamic. It’s a cultural preference expressed in Saudi Arabia alone of all Muslim countries.
No one is forcing women to drive, only permitting those who wish to drive to do so.
September:16:2007 - 08:28
The other way to look at this is would the majority of women want to drive, say 10 years after they gain the freedom to do it. I think the current majority is likely due to the fact that most women in Saudi not having an understanding of the impact these choices have in enhancing their lives.
In any event, the majority should not rule when it comes to the question of personal freedoms.
September:16:2007 - 08:28
Think about it. How many American women would like to have a driver take them everywhere? I am sure most would, but ask them if they would give away the right to drive to get their own personal driver?
In Saudi you could have both. Women who dont want to drive could still afford the cheap labour that allows them to have a driver and those that choose to drive could.
It is all about having the choice.
September:16:2007 - 08:28
It’s about not have some–even the majority–oppress those who think or behave differently. Not criminally differently, of course, but simply differently.
This isn’t anything new, of course. It’s one of the reasons why the US is not a pure democracy. Pure democracy has no real difference from mob rule when it comes to unpopular ideas.
September:16:2007 - 08:28
This is very important point. But first I must clarify two things:
1- I didn’t say that the majority don’t want to drive. Instead, they oppose passing such a law.
2- When they voted against it, they were fully aware of the social, economical, and security consequences that it could impact their lives.
My question:
Can’t the persoanl freedoms clash with public interests? or
Does a society has the right to take away an individual’s right for the common good(by polling)?
I’ll give an example from the Western world. The majority approval prohibited muslim women in France from covering their heads! How do you explain that?
Excuse my English.
September:16:2007 - 08:28
But the really tricky thing is that there is no Saudi law prohibiting women from driving! The government has said, time and again, that there’s no law, no religious proscription. It is only that Saudi society must decide that it’s okay for women to drive. It is social and cultural inertia, not any law that stopping women’s driving.
Your question is also good as it represents a real difference between Western and Asian societies. In the West, and to varying degrees, the individual, as the basis of society, is paramount. In the East, the individual is subsumed. That leads to different answers to the same question.
The situation in France is one of the ‘varying degrees’. There are other European laws that could not exist in the US because of their falling back on ’social welfare’ rather than individual choice. Under the French system, this law makes sense. Under US law, no.
A slightly different case involves official ID and women’s photos. Even in the US, state (and therefore social) interest in security outweighs a Muslim woman’s interest in keeping her face veiled. This has been applied for drivers licenses as well as in testifying in courts.
I think there are areas in which the answer is neither ‘yes’ nor ‘no’ in all cases. There can be exceptional circumstances. But I don’t think that’s the case in the KSA.
I also acknowledge that their right to drive just isn’t a bid deal for some Saudi women. For others it is. For something as innocuous as driving, I think individual rights should prevail.
September:16:2007 - 08:28
gF have you seen a widow or divorcee crying because she was unable to go and get her kid’s bread? Have you seen her have to beg her brother to take time from his own busy agenda and to do her daily tasks? Do you know how she feels?
I tried to organize a small drive in Saudi with a few SAUDI women and they were all scared because of what happened to the women who tried to drive in the 80’s. They husbands were like, “I don’t want to go to jail!” Eventhough their husbands supported them driving.
I would drive by myself but what impact would that have other than to irritate the hell out of my husband, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” My husband would say, “IF the Government wants women to drive BELIEVE ME they would allow WOMEN TO DRIVE”
Everybody is soooo scared. The brave are beaten or locked up. Is that people’s free will being exercised?
Saudi is such a police state just talking about these things issues like women driving people will automatically think you are a government agent like Mubaath and are trying to trick them.
September:16:2007 - 08:28
mubaath (sp.) I meant “Saudi Secret Police”
September:16:2007 - 08:28
I do not classify Saudi Arabia as a ‘police state’. Try living in Syria, a true police state, where all phone lines are tapped, where even a phone call from a foreign embassy can result in two weeks’ “detention” with the mukhabarat. Where embassy employees get a two- three-week annual “vacation” in a jail cell while being “interviewed” about their work.
We’d always play “spot the mubahith” everywhere we went. And lo! Everywhere we went, there were mubahith.
September:16:2007 - 08:28
John I believe what you are saying and wouldn’t want to live in Syria. However, the fact remains it is not about how many actual saudi secret police there truly are…the point is people’s beliefs about how powerful and how many Saudi secret police there are.
Signing petitions and contacting Human Rights organizations and hearing nothing back doesn’t set well in the stomach either. Seeing peaceful vocal activists arrested doesn’t help either in building one’s strength, courage and self assurance when trying to pursue some personal happiness. Seeing arrest after arrest of Saudi women who attempt to drive after the government repeatedly says ,”It is up to the people” doesn’t do much either.