Saudi Arabia agrees to let women drive

Saudi Arabia is easing restrictions on women driving, finally allowing almost half its population to get behind the wheel.

A royal decree has been issued that will allow women in the country to drive, the Saudi foreign ministry said on Tuesday on its official Twitter account. A committee has been formed to implement the ruling and it will present recommendations within 30 days. Then the government will have until June 24, 2018, to implement the new decree.

The move to ease restrictions on women has huge implications for the Saudi economy and women’s ability to work. It is just the latest in a series of changes that have been rippling through Saudi Arabia since the rise of 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Campaigners had earlier, for many years, argued that women should be allowed to drive, saying that “it makes virtual prisoners out of women, who do not have a male family member or chauffeur to drive them around.”

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia follows a strict form of Wahhabi Islam that bans the mixing of sexes at public events and places numerous curbs on women. These restrictions are enforced by religious police whose powers the crown prince has successfully lobbied to curtail since coming to power.

United States President Donald Trump has commended the decision of Saudi Arabia to allow women to drive in the ultra-conservative kingdom, describing it as a “positive step”.

Trump “commends” the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s decision to affirm the right of women to drive in the Kingdom, the White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said.

“This is a positive step toward promoting the rights and opportunities of women in Saudi Arabia,” Sanders said.

“We will continue to support Saudi Arabia in its to efforts to strengthen Saudi society and the economy through reforms like this and the implementation of Saudi Vision 2030,” she said in a statement.

“We're happy. We’re certainly happy to hear that. If Saudi women are now able to drive, certainly here in the United States we would certainly welcome that. It's a great step in the right direction for that country," the State Department Spokesperson, Heather Nauert, told reporters at her news conference.     

Image: A woman sits behind the wheel of her vehicle as she drives in Riyadh, an act that is banned in Saudi Arabia. The new decree is just the latest in a series of changes that have been rippling through Saudi Arabia since the rise of 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Photograph: Amena Bakr/Reuters

-- With inputs from PTI