Saudi Arabia will let women drive cars starting next year, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud announced Tuesday.
The Gulf nation had been the only one in the region to forbid female drivers. Under the policy change, women will be able to operate motor vehicles beginning next June, Saudi officials said in an announcement on state television and in a simultaneous media event in Washington.
Saudi Arabia, which is the birthplace of Islam, operates under Shariah law. The nation’s Muslim clerics have continually defended the practice of banning women drivers.
The move was made in part as a way of reversing the detrimental effects the policy has on the country’s international relations.
Efforts towards a more egalitarian society have gained momentum with the rise in power of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the king’s 32-year-old son, who has been promoting broad reform to the kingdom’s economy and society.
“The issue of women driving was never a religious or a cultural issue. In fact, the majority of the members of the Council of Senior Scholars in the Kingdom agree that Islam does not ban women from driving. This was a societal issue. Today, we have a young and vibrant society and the time had come to make this move,” Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, said.
