Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman is being hailed as a feminist reformer for finally allowing women in Saudi Arabia to legally drive. The ban on
Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman is being hailed as a feminist reformer for finally allowing women in Saudi Arabia to legally drive. The ban on women was formally lifted today, June 24. But while women’s rights activists in Saudi Arabia have been campaigning for reforms for years, it’s the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, who is getting most of the credit.
The country first announced its plans to lift the ban on women driving back in September 2107 after King Salman, the crown prince’s father, issued a royal decree allowing the government to issue driver’s licenses to men and women alike. Earlier this month, 10 Saudi women applied for and received their licenses. The 32-year-old Saudi Crown Prince has largely been credited as the person behind the initiative to abolish the driving ban. The press has heralded him as a progressive reformer and he was received positively during a recent visit to the United States, where he met with President Donald Trump, among others.
But the crown prince has also overseen some pretty questionable activities — he’s successfully eliminated his rivals by imprisoning many prominent Saudi officials and business elites while claiming he was fighting corruption. And he’s overseen a brutal war on Yemen that has ravaged the country. In addition to this, Saudi society still has a long way to go before women are treated as equals. One sign of this is the country’s guardianship system, which forces women to seek permission from their male relatives to do basic things, like travel or work. And though Sunday’s shift is momentous, it’s important to note that there are several women’s rights activists who are still in prison for fighting for the right to drive.
