Saudi Women Behind the Wheel for the First Time This Week, as 120,000 Apply for Driver's Licenses

Anuj Chopra : Jun 26, 2018
Times of Israel

"Look, a woman driver!" appeared to be a common refrain among male onlookers in Riyadh as women embraced a freedom long denied to them.

(Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)— [AFP/TimesofIsrael] Long relegated to the backseat, Saudi women celebrated taking the wheel for the first time this week in a much-awaited rite of passage, but one crucial hurdle remains—the attitude of men. (Photo: Hala Hussein Alireza, a newly-licensed Saudi motorist, drives a car in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah early on June 24, 2018/AFP Photo/Amer Hilabi/via Times of Israel)

Social media is awash with videos of women behind the wheel and men in the passenger seat, a role reversal that was unimaginable in the conservative state until a royal decree last September ended a decades-long women driving ban...

Continue reading here.