Why women can't be allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia?But to me, it seems like a temporaly resigning house mother self driver..hahhaha...I was an independent house mother while living at Jakarta. Plus, my husband went to Riyadh at 2009, so I live as single mother for a year. I used to drive motorcycle myself under the hot sunshine of Jakarta also breath vehicles smokes around Jakarta. It's a tough life, so i really enjoy this circumtances which let me spoiled by my husband driving to drive wherever i want...hahhahahha....and also, this situation reduce my shopaholic desease so we can raise our savings :).
Well mothers, if you curious about why this regulation issued by the government of Saudi Arabia, I have collected answer from internet as following :
From answer.yahoo.com : Saudi Arabia not only prohibits women from driving but also from voting, among many other things (note : Saudi Arabia women allowed to vote since 2009). One of the users above said that it is to protect women because there are crazy male drivers. Not true, the excuse most Saudis give is that women are uncontrollable and emotionally unable to drive. It has nothing to do with Islam, Saudi Arabia is just really conservative and somewhat oppressive of Muslim women and their freedom. Contrary to current beliefs, things are changing in Saudi Arabia. Women will be able to vote in 2009, they are rethinking the driving issue and will allow them to start sooner or later, women don't have to cover anymore, they go to places by themselves, etc. Islam gives women the freedom to do many things, it just has to do with the governments ignorance of women.
From thetruthaboutcars.com : As the Associated Press reports, Saudi Arabia's prohibition against women driving is not based on secular or Islamic law. It's down to fatwas issued by senior Islamic clerics, who claim driving "creates situations for sinful temptation".
From washingtonpost.com : Saudi women still can't drive cars, but they can sell them. Potential buyers can go to an all-women showroom where, for the first time, other women will help them choose a car and answer questions about horsepower, carburetors and other automotive features.Neither the saleswomen nor the female buyers can take a car out for a test drive because women are banned from driving in Saudi Arabia -- even though they have been allowed to own cars for decades and hire male drivers. Almost half the autos belong to women. The kingdom's strict interpretation of Islam has long limited what women can do outside the home, seeking to keep them from coming into contact with men who aren't relatives.
From www.telegraph.co.uk :
Saudi Arabia is to lift its ban on women drivers in an attempt to stem a rising suffragette-style movement in the deeply conservative state.
Government officials have confirmed the landmark decision and plan to issue a decree by the end of the year.
The move is designed to forestall campaigns for greater freedom by women, which have recently included protesters driving cars through the Islamic state in defiance of a threat of detention and loss of livelihoods.
The royal family has previously balked at granting women driving permits, claiming the step did not have full public support. The driving ban dates back to the establishment of the state in 1932, although recently the government line has weakened.
"There has been a decision to move on this by the Royal Court because it is recognised that if girls have been in schools since the 1960s, they have a capability to function behind the wheel when they grow up," a government official told The Daily Telegraph. "We will make an announcement soon."
Abdulaziz bin Salamah, the deputy information minister, said the official reform programme had been dogged by debate over the issue.
"In terms of women driving, we don't have it now because of the reticence of some segments of society," he said. "For example, my mother wouldn't want my sister to drive.
"It's something she cannot grapple with. But there is change on the way. I think the fair view is that one can be against it but one does not have the right to prevent it."
If the ban on women driving is lifted, it could be years before the full impact is seen. Practical hurdles stopping women obtaining licences and insurance must be overcome.
Mohammad al-Zulfa, a reformist member of the Saudi consultative Shura Council, which scrutinises official policies in the oil-rich state, said reversing the ban was part of King Abdullah's "clever" strategy of incremental reform.
"When it was first raised, the extremists were really mad," he said. "Now they just complain. It is diminishing into a form of consent."
Saudi Arabia maintains a strict segregation of the sexes outside the family home.
An unaccompanied woman must shop behind curtains and cannot hail a taxi.
Critics believe allowing women to drive would be the first step towards a gradual erosion of the kingdom's modesty laws. A woman would have to remove the traditional abaya robe to get a clear view behind the wheel.
"Allowing women to drive will only bring sin," a letter to Al-Watan newspaper declared last year. "The evils it would bring - mixing between the genders, temptations, and tarnishing the reputation of devout Muslim women - outweigh the benefits."
Saudi women have mounted growing protests. Fouzia al-Ayouni, the country's most prominent women's rights campaigner, has risked arrest by leading convoys of women drivers. "We have broken the barrier of fear," she said. "We want the authorities to know that we're here, that we want to drive, and that many people feel the way we do."
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Well..that's all i got gals... :( Perhaps there are a lot of good answer provide by arabian language based websites. But I can't speak or read arabic, and bablefish.altavista.com doesn't provide arabic-english translation. Perhaps you have a better answer?
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