Saudi Arabia repeals ban on women driving

Sep 26, 2017 | Features

By: Daniel Caudle

The controversial ban against women driving in Saudi Arabia has come to an end.

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman addressed his nation today and issued an order to allow women to obtain a drivers license.

The decree ordered the formation of a ministerial body to give advice within 30 days and then implement the order by June 2018, according to state news agency SPA.

According to Prince Khalid bin Salman women will not need to get permission from a legal guardian and would not need a guardian in the car when they drive.

The widely criticized ban on female drivers leaves Saudi Arabia on par with the rest of the world, where before they were the only country to have such a ban.

Prince Khalid bin Salman told reporters that our leadership thinks that this is the time to do this change because currently in Saudi Arabia we have a young, dynamic, open society and that there is no wrong time to do the right thing.

This comes as a surprise as in the past women protesting the ban by illegally driving were met with harsh penalties.

The Women to Drive Movement saw 41 women protest the ban by driving in Riyadh in 1990. As punishment for this the women were arrested and had their passports confiscated.

The movement picked up again in 2013.