Mubasher TV
Contact Us Advertising   العربية

Saudi Arabia to lift ban on women driving late June

Saudi Arabia to lift ban on women driving late June
Saudi Arabia will lift the ban on driving women in June

Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia has announced that it would lift the ban preventing women from driving on 24 June, a top official has said.

"All the requirements for women in the kingdom to start driving have been established," AFP reported, citing a statement by the General Department of Traffic’s director general Mohammed Al Bassami as saying on Tuesday.

Driving schools for women have been set up across five Saudi cities, the top official said, noting that teachers will include Saudi women who obtained their licences abroad. Women aged 18 and older will be entitled to apply for a driver’s licence, he added.

In September, a royal decree said that decades-old bank on women driving would be abolished and that women would be allowed to drive starting June 2018.

On Monday, Saudi newspaper Al-Madina published the bylaws pertaining to women driving in the Kingdom. The list included a few rules such as that women drivers must be Saudi nationals and having to drive in cities where their licences were issued.

However, the list also included a large number of fines, including an SAR 5,000 fine if the front seat passenger were a man or a child.

As for women with foreign driving licences, these will be allowed to apply for a local licence through a separate process, which will also assess their driving skills, the statement said.

"It is no secret that many women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia hold driving licences from abroad," it added.

The decision to lift the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia is said to be part of the Saudi Vision 2030, which Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is pushing for with a series of reforms, mainly aiming to begin a post-oil stage in the crude-reliant kingdom.

Bin Salman’s reforms also aim to bolster women’s participation in the workforce to about 40% from 22% at present.

“The decision to allow women to drive could give them the much-needed mobility to join the workforce,” AFP said.

On a similar note, Saudi women have recently been given the opportunity to launch businesses without permission from their male parents or relatives.

“But Saudi activists say social change will only be cosmetic without dismantling the kingdom's rigid guardianship system, which requires women to seek permission from a male relative to study, travel and other activities,” AFP stated.