King Salman’s decree, which takes impact subsequent June, is a part of an formidable reform push that runs the chance of a backlash from spiritual hardliners.
Saudi Arabia was the one nation on the earth to impose a ban on girls driving and its upkeep was seen as an emblem of repression within the Gulf kingdom world wide.
US President Donald Trump welcomed the choice to finish the ban as “a constructive step towards selling the rights and alternatives of girls in Saudi Arabia”.
British Prime Minister Theresa Might hailed it as an “vital step in the direction of gender equality”.
Saudi Arabia will use the “preparatory interval” till June to increase licensing services and develop the infrastructure to accommodate hundreds of thousands of recent drivers, state media mentioned.
Conservative clerics in Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy dominated in keeping with Islamic sharia legislation, have lengthy opposed lifting the ban, arguing that it might result in promiscuity. One among them even claimed that driving harmed girls’s ovaries.
The announcement on Tuesday comes after many years of resistance from feminine activists, lots of whom have been jailed for flouting the prohibition.
“An excellent day. Cannot maintain again my tears,” tweeted Saudi shura council member Latifah Alshaalan. “Congratulations to the ladies of my homeland.”
Activist Manal al-Sharif, who led the 2011 “Women2Drive” protest motion, tweeted: “Right now, the final nation on earth to permit girls to drive… we did it.”
– ‘A brand new period’ –
Human rights watchdog Amnesty Worldwide mentioned: “It’s a testimony to the bravery of girls activists who’ve been campaigning for years that… Saudi Arabia has lastly relented and determined to allow girls to drive.”
Saudi Arabia has a few of the world’s tightest restrictions on girls.
Below the nation’s guardianship system, a male relative — usually the daddy, husband or brother — should grant permission for a girl’s research, journey and different actions.
It was unclear whether or not girls would require their guardian’s permission to use for a driving licence.
After Tuesday’s announcement, the hashtags “I’m my very own guardian” and “Saudi Girls Can Drive” started gaining traction on social media, whereas many overtly lampooned conservatives who lengthy defended the ban.
One Saudi lady tweeted an image of three girls in a convertible going purchasing, with the message: “Us quickly.”
The coverage might socially liberate girls — closely reliant on overseas drivers and ride-sharing apps — and in addition increase the financial system at a time of low oil costs by growing their participation within the workforce, analysts say.
“Placing girls behind the wheel is the simplest solution to announce to the world — and to Saudis — that the dominion is getting into a brand new period,” Kristin Diwan, of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, instructed AFP.
“The reign of puritanical Islam is over.”
– ‘Largest PR win’ –
The announcement follows a stunning gender-mixed celebration of Saudi Nationwide Day on the weekend, the primary of its variety, which aimed to highlight the dominion’s reform drive.
Women and men danced within the streets to drums and digital music, in scenes that have been a shocking novelty in a rustic recognized for its tight gender segregation and austere imaginative and prescient of Islam.
Girls have been additionally allowed right into a sports activities stadium — beforehand a male-only area — to look at a live performance, a transfer that chimes with the federal government’s Imaginative and prescient 2030 plan for social and financial reform.
With greater than half the nation aged below 25, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the king’s son and the architect of the reforms, is seen as catering to the aspirations of youthful individuals.
“Permitting girls to drive is the largest PR win that Saudi Arabia — and Prince Mohammed — might have in a single swoop,” mentioned Jane Kinninmont, of London’s Chatham Home.
Already seen because the de facto ruler controlling all the foremost levers of presidency, Prince Mohammed, 32, is seen as stamping out inside dissent earlier than any formal switch of energy from his 81-year-old father.
His gambit to loosen social restrictions, which has to date not translated into extra political or civil rights, seeks to ease criticism over latest arrests, some analysts say.
Authorities this month arrested greater than two dozen individuals, together with influential clerics and activists, in what critics described as a coordinated crackdown.
