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| Saudi Arabia lifts ban on women driving | Saudi Arabia lifts ban on women driving |
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| The King of Saudi Arabia has issued a decree allowing women to drive, state media has said. | The King of Saudi Arabia has issued a decree allowing women to drive, state media has said. |
| The order - issued by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud - overturned a longstanding policy which had become a powerful symbol of oppression. The conservative kingdom is currently the only country where the act of women driving is forbidden. | The order - issued by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud - overturned a longstanding policy which had become a powerful symbol of oppression. The conservative kingdom is currently the only country where the act of women driving is forbidden. |
| The move was announced on television and also by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the royal decree mandating the creation of a ministerial body to give advice on the practicalities of the edict within 30 days and a full implementation of the order by June 2018. | The move was announced on television and also by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the royal decree mandating the creation of a ministerial body to give advice on the practicalities of the edict within 30 days and a full implementation of the order by June 2018. |
| “The royal decree will implement the provisions of traffic regulations, including the issuance of driving licences for men and women alike,” the state-run Saudi Press Agency said. | “The royal decree will implement the provisions of traffic regulations, including the issuance of driving licences for men and women alike,” the state-run Saudi Press Agency said. |
| Saudi Arabia is a Muslim monarchy ruled according to Sharia law, with the royal decree stipulating that the new rules must "apply and adhere to the necessary Sharia standards". State media said that the Council of Senior Religious Scholars - the country's highest religious authority that advises the King on religious matters - had approved the decrees permissibility. | Saudi Arabia is a Muslim monarchy ruled according to Sharia law, with the royal decree stipulating that the new rules must "apply and adhere to the necessary Sharia standards". State media said that the Council of Senior Religious Scholars - the country's highest religious authority that advises the King on religious matters - had approved the decrees permissibility. |
| Saudi officials and clerics have provided numerous explanations for the ban in recent years. Some clerics have said that it was inappropriate in Saudi culture to drive, while others have said that male drivers would not know how to handle driving with women in the cars next to them. A number conservative clerics have argued that allowing women to drive would corrupt the wider Saudi society and lead to sin. | |
| Since the 1990s, women's rights activists in the kingdom have been pushing for the right to drive, saying that it represents their larger struggle for equal rights under the law. A number of women have been arrested for defying the ban. | |
| It is not entirely clear yet how the new rules will work in relation to other remianing restrictions, including laws which require women to be accompained by a male "guardian" when they leave their homes. | |
| The United States welcomed the order by King Salman, with US State Department spokesman Heather Nauert calling it "a great step in the right direction." | The United States welcomed the order by King Salman, with US State Department spokesman Heather Nauert calling it "a great step in the right direction." |