Only this year I realized that women are actually and REALY not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia.
My comment is: WHY?
It’s not written in the Quran. A car is a vehicle… a means of transportation. Back in the days of our prophets and messengers, WOMEN rode horses (MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION!!!) and camels and even participated in wars and yes mixed with men whenever they were of any help. They taught people… men and women, they ran errands and it was a normal life.
What does “driving a car” have to do with religion? I drive a car am I b****? Am I a bad Muslim? Hmmm….. or wait, maybe it depends on how fast I drive!
Ok let’s look at it from a different angle. Driving is basically not different from walking. It’s just faster! So now a woman can’t WALK? *was about to laugh writing that sentence*
Ok I have lots and lots and lots to say I’ll just stop here… I really want to read comments and know people’s opinions and thoughts. Plus, I never discussed this with a Saudi… I am curious to know what they think of this matter.
Hmmm now I’m thinking, are they forbidding women to drive because of religious reasons or because of other social reasons?
(This post is not to offend any society, any nationality or anyone at all... I'm only speaking out my thoughts...)
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36 comments:
LOL ok the reason they say no driving is cuz she might not have a mi7rim with her at all times.. ok and the driver is a mi7rim????
and this might sound a lil sexist (I'm a chick and i'm sayin this i can believe this BUT) its for the best that women dont drive there for 2 reasons. When i'm on the road in Saudi i feel like its my last day on earth cuz its very rare that u find someone that follows the rules so if women join in they will get scared and cuz more accidents
the second reason the guys there WILL cuz accidents just to get to talk to the girl! so imagine that! lol... I'm not sayin all saudi ppl drive bad cuz fee good drivers but most arent AND u see 14 yr old boys drivin cuz for some families he's the only way they can go out cuz the whole family is girls and can afford a driver... so is that a good thing??
They should allow women to drive in Saudi and they should put a stop to 10-14 years old boys from driving!
ok thats suppose to say (I'm a chick and i'm sayin this i CANT believe this BUT)
mmmm wake up girl...i knew this long back...even you cant cross saudi border if the girl sitting in your car is not your wife, mother or sister...so they have lods of complications.. I guess like mimi said its cuz of the mi7rim...
OMG... I still didn't start talking about Saudi men... so don't get me started.
again, i hate to generalize but sometimes all I see is "ignorance".
my country is not ignorance-free, i have to admit... but at the same time, i hate to compare! ignorance is everywhere it just takes different forms...
and i also hate people who DENY it.
Anyway... back to the topic...lol, the point you mentioned about 14 year old boys driving just cuz they're the only MALES in a family is TOP IGNORANCE! so does it mean that the females of a family are willing to put their lives at RISK and ride with a 14-year old driving JUST BECAUSE they're not allowed to drive ?!? are they kiddddding me??
wait, this is called civilization ya?
:P
Amu: hehehe yeah i didn't know about this before... time to wake up! about crossing the borders... "no comment". :P
Amu, explain to me the mi7rim thing if 3ady to go in the car with a driver a lone? i mean what the driver isnt a guy??? it all doesnt make sense
Amu: Are you with or against the rule that forbid women from driving in saudi?
(Question to self: why do you care?! loool)
(answering myself: I've no idea it's just interesting cuz it doesn't make sense at all!)
the driver thing is also hillarious!
Canc3riaN btw if u see these lil boys drive u'll laugh.. actually
that is IF u see them behind the HUGE stiring wheels of the bigges GMS they could find..
walla u see a car passin by and try to look inside to see who is driving it cuz its they are shorter than the wheel imagine!
:O !!! Never saw such a thing!....... not yet!!! lol
I want the women to drive and to come out side by side of all Arab men, we are all equal :)
mimi i know its not 3ady in saudia..thats why they have restricted it there..but hey common people wake up we are in 20th century now..
I agree mimi .. it does not make sense saying ina a women should not drive because she has to be with a ma7ram every time she goes out and then she uses a driver.. I think its better if she drives alone than sits in a car with a non ma7ram man (Driver)... Well maybe its the country rule saying women cant drive because they need a ma7ram.. and men took advantage of this rule but were then never bothered to drive their wives sisters and mothers around so decided to hire drivers lol ... I feel like even if they start allowing women to drive a lot of families probably most families wont let their women drive it will be like a contradiction to their culture and lifestyle.. For Some reason a lot of men think women cant drive.. and its such a stereotype even here.. we women ourselves sometimes admit it.. Like when we see a car driving carelessly on the road we say "akeed 7erma it soog' ...
To cross the boarders getting in our out of Saudi they check and make sure the women sitting in the car have a ma7ram !
hmmmmmm, good question to ask...!
bas kalamech 3adel oo man6ege!
I knew about that but am still wondering about this issue!
Statistically speaking, women are safer drivers. The result of these statistics is that a twenty year old male will pay €4,000 per year here for compulsory third party insurance, and a twenty year old female will pay about €900. I also think this is unacceptable sexism.
But, yeah, the arguments that letting women drive will lead to more crashes, which I have read with respect to SA, is not based on fact, and does not agree with the facts.
Thank you shale ;) hehehe and guess what i also found out. Movie theatres don't exist in Saudi. I can't imagine :S
I have a question shale... why would men pay 4,000 and women only 900 ? I mean what is the reason behind this difference ... :)
Yeah in Saudi they dont have Cinemas and a lot of them drive to Bahrain for Cinemas .. Didnt you notice here in summer the malls were full of Saudi families most of which were standing in the Cinema cue..
Hmm :p this topic bothers you for some weird unkown reason. Are marrying a saudi or something? =P
Just kidding...
Well, I seriously don't know why exactly... But from what I hear and know that some men would usually take theirsister/mother/wife to wherever she would want to go.
KSA, is very big.. and each part is very different from the other, you have villages, rural areas, cities.. etc..
Because we come from socities where women driving is not a big deal and is not banned by the government.. we find this weird, and unacceptable... It would be nice to hear a saudi comment on this.
I am not sure of the name of it, but they basically tailor your insurance price to your risk category. You have to tell them your address, your occupation, your age, your gender, your previous driving and accident history, and the model of your car and size of its engine, and you get a quotation. It is completely uncool, and our government are stupid to let such discrimination be legal. It means that you do not get to drive if you are in a certain category!! The most irritating thing is that if your car is in a crash and it is not your fault, your insurance price still goes up. This issue makes me rant crazily.
as i don’t like this stupidity .. and the humiliation of the female gender in their culture which doesn’t make sense at all .. i rather not to talk about much .. its not right .. end of the story !!!
P.S : this is my own opinion .. I hope they wont take it personally..
DeeDee: yes i am curious to know a saudi's point of view.
Shale: lol I see what you mean now..
"The most irritating thing is that if your car is in a crash and it is not your fault, your insurance price still goes up. This issue makes me rant crazily." NOT FAIIIIR !! hehe
Navy Girl: Yeah fi wayed ashya2 lo engalat bykoon shakilha inappropriate.. and i too don't want people to take anything personally... it's just a weird thing that driving in 2007 is banned for women in any country.
I once asked a SA lady the same Q.. she said:" well, the only reason we don't drive is because it was a believe that women shouldn't drive since the driving revelotion started back in the old days. If you look at it now, it is still the same and women are still not allowed to drive. i see it very hard for women to start driving now. if you ask why is that? i would say trust me, it is very hard for femals to drive with the male population all around. guys here aren't really used to seening females unless they are first degree family! i wouldnt feel safe driving with them around"...
That was what she told me, after i heard what she said, it did kinda make some logic to me.. i dont mean anything, but we all know how SA guys act when they see a lady.. again no hard feelings but it is true!
Speak it, sistah!
Seeker: "i dont mean anything, but we all know how SA guys act when they see a lady.. "
this reminded me of something that happened to me the last time I went to Omra. I realized that only saudi men stare. Of course like DeeDee said, Saudi is a huge country with cities and villages and towns and people there are of different mental and social levels... Many are very civilized and impressively modern and all... but some are just I don't know... you have all extremes in Saudi I guess...
Nick: HEYYYYY I MISSSS YOUUUUUU.... MY ESPERANTO BUDDY!!! Although you're all Czec now :P hehehe
wow, i can't believe you only found this out recently :p
well, the funny thing is, theyre not allowed to drive, but its ok if they're left alone with a driver who isn't related to them in any way. lol.
Well Im saudi,and I drive (out of the country).Driving in saudi for women would have to different from anywhere else in the world. They would have to have female only parking spaces everywhere(in order for a woman to be able to park in peace),and a female lane on the highway(so that men dont cut in front of us and make us nervous),female traffic police(to issue violations so women dont get harassed by male officers),and female driving school instructors. The road rules overall would have to be more enforced for males,and when all this is done,maybe it would be good for women to drive in saudi. Wherever i have driven(from new york,europe,asia and africa) men in general are quite chivalrous to women who drive. In saudi i dont think that would be the case. Also,they need a super fast female response team to help in case of emergencies..Like car breakdowns,to minimise harrasment to a stranded woman. If saudi men change their thinking and stop harrassing and following women the way they do,then saudi women would be safe to drive.I think that there is a way to let women drive,and still respect very strict saudi cultural sensitivities,but it will take alot of commitment from everyone and massive paradigm shifts. Saudi is not ready yet. It will take a few years still.
Ammaro: yes I've been sleeeping and now i woke up! lol
Lamya: WOw thanks for sharing your views and explaining... that sure made things clearer... It is true that it would take years... and about the men harrasing women that is just so sick walla ... of course it happens here too althought not as much... but it happens! However, i think that maybe if the society started acting like women are not really aliens or weird creatures then the harrasments would go less and less.
Thanks for visiting my blog... :)
Guess what. when I went for my first umrah with my husband after our marriage, the ppl wrote on my husbands passport that the lady accompanying him was his sister. So basically, I was his sister all along the umrah official stops, when actually I was his wife...lols
Well, I don't like it much either, coz I'd like to take turns driving if I wear in the wild in Saudia. It's a vast country and some times u wanna have the fun too.
Apart from that. once my father's car broke down in Saudia and my mother drove it from one spot (nearly few steps) to another (like one mechanic to another) and there was a police guy behind her asking why she drove. Ofcourse when mom told him the reason n that dad is right outside talking to the mechanic and that she is travellling from Kwt... he let go!
sis: what happened to your mom reminded me of a scene in this saudi movie called " Kaif El Hal"... I don't know if you saw it but they show how the daughter drove her father to to hospital because he got really sick and she was the only able to drive. She drove and of course the police followed her and she had to explain.
lol@his sister in Umra!
whoooaa moo imla72a 3aleiki
i cant read all of that now!! i need to go sleep
chow chow
ill read tomorrow inshallah
hahah Palo.. Sweet dreams.. and el blog bloggich anytime you want :P hehe
It is social, I have lived there for 18 years. Basically the Saudi youth are sexually repressed and would want to vent in any shape or form. They stalk women on the roads by tailing the cars the women are riding (women ride cars with drivers). Passing phone numbers and bluetooth and such.
Now if women were to drive, imagine what would happen. The men would follow them relentless and possibly the women will freak out and get into accidents.
There is also another factor. With a driver, the father would know where his daughters are going. If women drive, with the sexual repression, well, you can imagine what will happen.
*stress*
I have so much to say but I dont know where to start!!!
I think KJ and Lamya's comments pretty much summed it up.
You see, the society in Saudi doesnt really accomodate females driving.
Its so much more than transport or ma7ram.. Its just so deeply rooted into society that it would take so much work. I know this because I'mm quite close with our maid thats lived over 8 years in Saudi Arabia and knows a good deal about Saudi societies.
To demonstrate my point, I think I should elaborate on Seeker's point "guys here aren't really used to seening females unless they are first degree family".
I think this is realy the most crucial point in the argument.
According to D (our helper), even COUSINS of opposite sexes do not know each other. There is no kind of mixing WHATSOEVER in most typical Saudi families. And in most of Saudi Arabia, Niqaab is obligatory, if not by law then most certainly by the norms of society and family. For obvious reasons, women can't really drive if their faces are covered. Even if their eyes are uncovered but the rest of their faces are, what about checkpoints? What about crimes? Basically, if women wearing Niqaab are allowed to drive, it's allowing criminals to run free, because a police officer would never be allowed to ask a woman to show her face.
So, you would have to recruit many female officers. That would be another issue altogether that would be breaking so many others of society's rules.
And then, all of a sudden, women would be on the streets all day in cars. Problems with this in Saudi society:
1. no ma7ram
2. much much much too much "mixing" of males and females, since women are going to be driving on the streets. and as many commenters said, imagine all the sexual harrassment, or just plain harrassment.
and this is not being unrealistic coz we're in Kuwait and the harrassment is.. well.. frequent.
these are just a few points.. but as u can see its so much more than the issue of just getting from one place to another..
KJ: "sexually repressed".. yes and they take it to extremes. Also.. if you think it, you can it is asas hay el mishkla.
Palo Girl: Wow... you really had stuff to say didn't ya!
every word you said made excellent sense and had a fair amount of logic! I couldn't agree more... but walla isn't it sad that these problems are occuring ONLY because as KJ said these societies are sexually repressed? It is the most ridiculous thing on earth, at least in my opinion.
and in order to change this.... it has to be done gradually and through steps and stages.... one step at a time... or it would only get worse! :S
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