The women are beginning to give the government headaches over the unofficial driving ban imposed on Saudi female drivers. The ironic thing is, in rural areas of the kingdom, women drive themselves all the time, it seems only in the cities do the males in charge enforce sharia law on how women act in public as far as driving themselves. One of the more interesting contradictions within Islam.
Manal el-Sharif was the woman recently who started the defiance, now she, along with human rights activist Samar Badawi have filed a lwasuit against the government, officially challenging the driving ban. A bold step in na country where women are not allowed to go anywhere without a male guardian,
This will be a very contentious battle, let us pray for the women and their fight against Islamic patriarchalism.
From AFP/Yahoo Feb 4
Manal el-Sharif was the woman recently who started the defiance, now she, along with human rights activist Samar Badawi have filed a lwasuit against the government, officially challenging the driving ban. A bold step in na country where women are not allowed to go anywhere without a male guardian,
This will be a very contentious battle, let us pray for the women and their fight against Islamic patriarchalism.
From AFP/Yahoo Feb 4
Saudi activists sue government over driving ban
Two Saudi female activists have filed law suits against the government for refusing to issue them driver's licences and banning them from driving a car, they told AFP on Saturday.
Manal al-Sherif, the icon of an Internet campaign launched last year urging Saudi women to defy a ban on driving, and human rights activist Samar Badawi filed their suits against the interior ministry.
Sherif, who was arrested in May 2011 and detained for 10 days after posting on YouTube a video of herself driving, said she decided to file the lawsuit after having been denied a driver's licence.
"There is no actual law that states woman can't drive" in Saudi Arabia and therefore "no justification for preventing them from issuing a licence," said Sherif, one of the activists behind a "My Right, My Dignity" campaign aimed at ending discrimination against women in Saudi Arabia.
Badawi said the grievance board at the interior ministry had informed her to "follow-up in a week" to confirm a court appointment for her lawsuit.
Ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia is the only country where women are not allowed to drive. However, they sit behind the wheel in desert regions away from the capital.
Women in the kingdom who have the financial means hire drivers while others must depend on the goodwill of male relatives.
They also have to be veiled in public and cannot travel unless accompanied by their husbands or a close male relative.
No comments:
Post a Comment