Saudi women protest against their country’s interdiction for women to drive

It is a known fact that women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to drive and are always dependent on men in their families to take them to places where they need to go. The prohibition of driving is not imposed by law but it is a religious tradition adopted by Muslim clerics.

At the end of last month, Manal al-Shariff, a 32-year-old woman was arrested for posting a video that showed her driving a car on her Facebook and YouTube pages.

She is also the organizer of the Women2Drive campaign, an event that invited Saudi women to protest against the ban on driving starting June 17.

The woman’s idea came to life and many groups worldwide united to promote this campaign. So far, there are films and reports suggesting that Saudi women have started getting behind the wheel. Most women who had enough courage to drive around said they were not harassed or stopped by the police.

There is a case where the woman was stopped by authorities and fined for driving on public roads without a license even though she had two international licenses.