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Saudi Women Petition for Right to Drive
Wajeha al-Huwaider of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, co-founded a group urging that women be permitted to drive. The group sent King Abdullah a petition with more than 1,100 names.
(By Faiza Saleh Ambah -- The Washington Post)
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Though no laws explicitly ban people from gathering signatures or circulating petitions, independent political or social activity is frowned upon in Saudi Arabia, and rights activists are routinely imprisoned.
Ayouni, a 48-year-old mother of three, counted the possible consequences of agitating for change. "We could be detained, we could lose our jobs, and we could be banned from traveling," she said. "But if we get the right to drive, it would be worth it."
The petition has received more attention overseas than in Saudi Arabia, where the news media are government-controlled and the issue was taboo until several years ago.
But Saudi Arabia has slowly become more open since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Ayouni said. The shock of Saudis being largely involved in the attacks forced the country to reevaluate its ultraconservative lifestyle, and many subjects that had been off-limits are now discussed more openly in the media.
"The Internet and satellite television have also brought new ideas," said Ayouni, whose 16-year-old daughter also signed the petition.
Letters to al-Watan newspaper on Saturday responding to an article about the petition were almost equally divided for and against.
"Allowing women to drive will only bring sin. The evils it would bring, mixing between the genders, temptations, and tarnishing the reputation of devout Muslim women, outweigh the benefits," wrote one man.
Others expressed admiration for what one called the group's "daring and courage" in tackling the issue.
Huwaider, the group's co-founder, is no stranger to controversy. During last year's war in Lebanon, she stood on the bridge between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, holding a placard addressed to King Abdullah. "Give Saudi Women Their Rights," it said.
She was detained and interrogated, and had to sign a petition pledging not to demonstrate again. But the most humiliating part, she said, was waiting at the police station until her male guardian, her brother, could arrive to pick her up.
"The whole Arab world was inflamed at what was happening in Lebanon," she said. "And I wanted to say: Yes, that's bad, but why don't you look closer to home and see how bad our lives are here?"
At a meeting at Huwaider's house last week, the women in the group, the Association for the Protection and Defense of Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia, went over their campaign. Ayouni, in black pants and a long black-and-gold top, paced back and forth in platform sandals as she spoke on her cellphone with a BBC reporter calling from the United Arab Emirates.
"It's not a luxury, it's a necessity," she said. "Many women support their entire families and can't afford paying half their salary to a driver."
Ayouni said her group had at least "broken a barrier of fear that Saudi women had of asking for their rights."
"That has been our major achievement. And we want the authorities to know that we're here, that we want to drive, and that many people feel the way we do," she said.
