I have always been one to encourage development in the Arab world especially in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and hopefully by the end of this year there will be a new development: women will be able to drive. After a petition was delivered to King Abdullah at the beginning of this year steps to allow all women to get into the drivers seat are underway. Apparently this process has been long coming ever since the Royal court realized that if ‘girls have been in schools since the 1960s they have a capability to function behind the wheel’.

Obviously many Saudi Arabian women will be pleased because due to this law they have found it difficult to drive anywhere around the world. By being able to drive more women will begin to feel empowered and will try to take an active role in today’s society and this can only be beneficial. This is only the first step in what appears to be an ongoing process of empowering women as they will soon be allowed to stay in hotels and furnished apartments alone, in other words without a male relative.

By Karim