“It’s high time women started driving their cars,” a prominent Saudi Arabian prince has said. On his website, Prince Alwadeel Talal, who is one of the world’s wealthiest investors, said: “Preventing a woman from driving a car is today an issue of rights similar to the one that forbade her from receiving an education or having an independent identity. They are all unjust acts by a traditional society, far more restricted than what is lawfully allowed by the precepts of religion.”
Even today, women in Saudi Arabia continue to face a number of restrictions in their everyday lives – they are still not allowed to drive or make major life choices without male consent, including travelling, studying and working. In September 2016, an online petition was started to urge the Saudi government to discard its guardianship system
Prince Alwadeel’s statement, however, does not represent the government’s stand and is unlikely to bring about a change in the policy in the near future, according to The New York Times. Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also the West Asian country’s defence minister, had said in April that he was “not convinced” that women should be allowed to drive, justifying his views as the popular opinion in the society and not a religious belief.
In December 2015, women in Saudi Arabia voted and contested in the elections for the first time in the country’s history. Women won 20 seats in the polls, an election result seen as a big step forward in the fight for their gender’s rights in the kingdom.
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