Women and Driving in Saudi Arabia - Article Example

Women and Driving in Saudi Arabia Women have experienced a considerable share of discrimination in the society more than any other group. Most often, societies have limited the roles of women in several ways, and Saudi Arabia is not left behind regarding this issue. Though the world has seen significant improvement regarding the rights and of women in the society, this is mostly felt in the western countries as some countries still hold on to the laws that violate the rights of women. Compared to the Western countries, Middle East countries such as Saudi Arabia still hold strong religious provisions that restrict women when it comes to certain roles in the society. Saudi Arabia operates under Islamic law that sees women as vulnerable individuals incapable of taking care of themselves or doing certain tasks. Despite several reforms towards equality and the rights of women in this society, there are still a number of issues that need addressing. Such is the provision that inhibit women from driving. The government in Saudi Arabia should take the ban of women driving off, and let women drive, and give the Saudi women all their rights. The ban on women from driving does not hold any valid reason that warrants the government to prevent women from driving. Women in Saudi Arabia have the right to drive like any other individual, as well as other women all over the world. It is time the Saudi government recognizes that women are grownups just like men and deserve to enjoy the privileges enjoyed by the male gender. Men and the Saudi government in general do not have any right to direct women on what they should do and what they should not engage in. Moreover, women all over the world including Saudi Arabia have proven that they are worth more than domestic objects. Accordingly, women are involved in management and leadership positions initially reserved for their male counterparts. This goes to show that the same way women are capable of managing other duties including work and family responsibilities, they are also able to manage driving and the challenges that come with this task. Thus, there is no obstacle holding back the government of Saudi Arabia to consent to lifting of the driving ban. The Saudi government should let women drive because they have expressed great willingness to drive. This reveals that the decision to deny women the right to drive is not welcomed by this population. As a result, women have come out and openly to show resistance towards the ban on driving. For example, in October 26, 2013 camping, women set behind the wheel and proved to the people that they could drive (Bynes 1). They recorded themselves driving and uploaded the videos on YouTube. Some people saw the women when they drove and gave them thumps up which means that many people support women driving. In another protest, women came out in large numbers to test drive around the city. Ironically, as one of the participants narrates the experience, not even the police stopped her, and people around seemed not to notice (Burke 2). Notably, banning women from driving is just in perception, but in reality, it does not raise any concerns. Banning women from driving is a religious obstacle rather than a government law based on proper rationale. Saudi Arabia has operated under Islamic religion that forbids women to do a number of things, which include driving. Initially, when people started driving, there was no need for driving, and thus, according to the religious rules; women were not allowed to drive. Today, the world has changed immensely, and people have abandoned the traditional rules that restricted women from doing certain roles. Therefore, it is time the government takes control and allows women to exercise their rights to drive among other human rights. The main obstacle here is upsetting religious rules, but clearly, in this modern world, oppressive rules do not stand a chance. Hence, the government needs to do away with the ban on women and prevent religion from ruling the lives of women. Banning women from driving already cost them a lot, and thus, it will make no difference if they incur the cost of buying a car. Men too spend on buying cars, which makes them spend money just as women would if they were driving. In addition, having a car of their own is very convenient and gives them freedom to carry out their activities promptly as opposed to waiting for a chauffeur or a guardian to drive them wherever they want to go somewhere. Depending on someone else to drive women not only wastes time, but also is also expensive and unaffordable for many women in the society. For instance, women have to hire a driver, which makes them spend a lot of money unnecessarily on something they can handle on their own (Rheault 4). The majority of women in Saudi Arabia have been hugely affected since most of them cannot afford a driver. This is because a great population of the women is jobless. Many of the women in the kingdom depend on their guardians or husbands. This means that it is impossible for most of them to afford the services of a driver, and this restricts their travel. Furthermore, even the government itself acknowledges that women are capable of driving, and if not for the religious policies, women of Saudi Arabia would be driving today. This can be supported by King Abdullah’s statement who said that he believe that women will drive someday in Saudi Arabia. Also, he did promise women to take the ban off, but he said they had to be patient. Religious police are the reason women are not driving yet; who thinks that it is contrary to the religion of Islam (Fisher 3). Moreover, the law is not official and the religion of Islam did not say that women should not drive at all. Ironically, the religion says that women should be accorded all their rights. This is an indication that even religion has not taken a static stand on the issue of women driving. It has given a window that allows the government to make decisions that promote the rights of women. Seemingly, the government has no excuse to prevent women from driving. Several advantages come with allowing the women to drive. Giving the women license will help them to drive in emergencies. For example, when a fellow woman is in labor or someone is seriously sick and there is no man around to drive them to the hospital, women, who usually spend most of their time at home, will come in handy and save the day. In addition, women have the ability to handle the same workload as men, therefore, they will be able to lift some burden of men and share driving duties. Similarly, letting women drive will reduce the number of chauffeur in Saudi Arabia because there will be no need for them. Finally, the campaigns that women have had over the past years against the ban demonstrate the importance of allowing women in Saudi Arabia to drive (Ambah 2). As a result, the government of Saudi Arabia should recognize of these advantages and lift the driving ban on women. Statistics shows that men are no better drivers. In fact, according to the number of accidents recorded, men caused a good number of them. For example, a survey revealed that men were responsible for 29,722 deaths caused by motor vehicle accidents while women were responsible for only 12,747 deaths (Car-Accidents.com). Therefore, it is not accurate to suggest that men are better drivers than women are which is why the ban on women is logical. Nevertheless, since the number of women drivers to men drivers may not be the same, it cannot be concluded that men have higher accidents. However, from the statistical trend, suggests that men may be more careless drivers than women. Proponents of the ban argue that allowing women to drive will cause heavy traffic on the roads. This will force the kingdom to raise fund to construct other highways. This will cost many billions that can be used in other developmental plans. It will be better not to allow the women to drive, but develop the kingdom in other ways. However, letting women drive part of the development. Furthermore, there is no statistics to prove that lifting the driving ban on women will cause traffic jams on the roads and highways. In other countries, women drive, but there is no proof that there are heavy traffic jams on the roads because of this. Hence, this argument is unfounded and is not enough reason to prevent Saudi Arabian women. Additionally, critiques believe that letting women drive will make the country forget its cultural believes. They say that it will be as impressing western culture, and degrading the value of women in Saudi Arabia. On the contrary, refusing to let women drive is what degrades their value in the society and gives them an inferior position than men. Other arguments that proponents of the ban put forward are that women will be exposed to harassment and driving has negative health effects on their ovaries. First, women can take care of themselves well enough as men, and thus, harassment will not be a threat. Second, there is no research that gives evidence to show that driving has negative health effects on women’s ovaries, and thus, this is just a mere fiction. Evidently, letting women drive is a right they should have like any other right. However, it is worth noting that it will not be easy at first because there will be objections and challenges. For example, there are groups of women who oppose the idea of letting women drive. In July, A group of learned women like journalists, doctors, teachers, and university professors sent a petition to the king. The petition wanted things to remain as they were. They believe that their privilege status as Islam women will be lost since this will be like impressing the western culture. Nevertheless, such challenges will be overcome bit-by-bit. All the arguments given for banning the right of women to drive such as congestion, high cost, health risk, security risk, and degradation of culture have no basis. Therefore, the government in Saudi Arabia should take the ban of women driving off, and let women drive, and give the Saudi women all their rights. Works Cited Ambah, Faiza Saleh. "Saudi women recall a day of driving; Women who protested in 1990 reunite as debate over women drivers returns." The Christian Science Monitor 10 June 2005. Web. Burke, Jason. "Saudi Arabia women test driving ban." The Guardian 17 June 2011. Web. Bynes, Mark. "Driving in Saudi Arabia as a Woman." CityLab 05 April 2014. Web. < http://www.citylab.com/politics/2014/04/driving-saudi-arabia-woman/8771/>. Car-Accidents.com. Car Accidents Men, Woman, Male, Female, Stats Data, Incidence Statistics. n.d. Web. 22 October 2014. . Fisher, Max. "Saudi Arabia’s oppression of women goes way beyond its ban on driving." CNN 28 October 2013. Web. . Rheault, Magali. "Saudi Arabia: Majorities Support Womens Rights; Fifty-five percent of men agree that women shobe allowed to drive; 66% of women agree." Gallup Poll News Service 21 December 2007. Web. Read More