Saudi women gear up for new freedom as driving ban ends

[Singularity]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/saudi-wom...120240212.html


Saudi women gear up for new freedom as driving ban ends
Reuters By Stephen Kalin,Reuters 4 hours ago
Dr Samira al-Ghamdi, 47, a practicing psychologist, drives around the side roads of a neighborhood as she prepares to hit the road on Sunday as a licensed driver, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia June 21, 2018. Picture taken June 21, 2018. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
By Stephen Kalin


RIYADH (Reuters) - Women will hit the roads in Saudi Arabia on Sunday with the lifting of the world's last ban on female drivers, long seen as an emblem of women's repression in the conservative kingdom.


The move, ordered last September by King Salman, is part of sweeping reforms pushed by his powerful young son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who aims to transform the economy of the world's top oil exporter and open up its cloistered society.


"We are ready, and it will totally change our life," said Samira al-Ghamdi, a 47-year-old psychologist from Jeddah, one of the first Saudi women to be issued with a driving license.


The lifting of the ban, which for years drew international condemnation and comparisons to the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan, has been welcomed by Western allies as proof of a new progressive trend in Saudi Arabia.


But it has been accompanied by a harsh crackdown on dissent, including against some of the very activists who previously campaigned against the ban. They will sit in jail as their peers take to the road legally for the first time.


Saudi women with foreign licenses only began converting them earlier this month, so the number of new drivers is expected to remain low at first. It will be some time before others learning to drive at new state-run schools are road ready.


And some women still face resistance from conservative relatives. Many accustomed to using a private driver say they are reluctant to take on the Muslim kingdom's busy highways.


"I definitely won't like to drive," said Fayza al-Shammary, a 22-year-old saleswoman. "I like to be a princess with someone opening the car door for me and driving me anywhere."


Concerns that women drivers will face abuse in a country where strict segregation rules usually prevent women from interacting with unrelated men prompted a new law last month with jail and hefty fines for sexual harassment.


The Interior Ministry plans to hire women traffic police for the first time, but it is unclear when they will be deployed.


ECONOMIC BOON


The decision to lift the ban in the tightly-controlled Muslim kingdom - where once-forbidden cinemas and concerts have also returned - is expected to boost the economy, with industries from car sales to insurance to reap returns.


It should also encourage more women into the workforce and raise productivity, if only modestly at first.


Auto companies have seized the moment with theatrical ads marking the end of the ban, and private parking garages designated "ladies" areas with pink signage.


Social media is also celebrating with tweets like #You_Will_Drive_and_the_People_Are_With_You. Some reactions have been more derisive or expressed concern about social impacts.


Much of the kingdom's overwhelmingly young population supports Prince Mohammed's reforms, but many Saudis fear their speed could provoke a backlash from religious conservatives once seen as dominant.


Activists and diplomats have speculated that the arrests of more than a dozen women's rights advocates over the past month were aimed at appeasing conservative elements or at sending a message to activists not to push demands too far.


The crown prince's modernization efforts have won praise at home and abroad, but he has also provoked unease with an anti-corruption purge last year, when scores of royals and top businessmen were detained at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh. Most were freed after reaching settlements with the government.


Even with the end of the driving ban, Saudi Arabia remains one of the most restrictive countries for women, who need permission from legally mandated male guardians for important decisions such as foreign travel and marriage.


Activists have already begun campaigning to end the guardianship system, which has been chipped away at slowly over the years. Prince Mohammed declared in an interview earlier this year that he believes men and women are equal.


But veteran Saudi activist Hala Aldosari says women remain second-class citizens and criticized the crown prince's "piecemeal approach" as serving the interests of the elite at the expense of women from more restrictive families.


"Worst of all will be if these small-scale reforms, and the silencing of feminists, slow the momentum for pushing the Saudi regime into making more meaningful change," she wrote in a U.S. newspaper this week.


(Additional reporting by Marwa Rashad, Sarah Dadouch and Reuters TV; Editing by Ros Russell)

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Five minutes later. https://i.imgur.com/bPCEgZa.gif / https://i.imgur.com/DB1sZ5v.gifv

[Abz2000]

The man who has been given a kingdom needs to give priority to establishing Islam so that women and men can drive vehicles without the fear of fitnah in society.
What appears to have happened is that some satanic secularist extremist devils have managed to drive a wedge between some people and Allah by infiltrating all parties involved and installing rebellion and hatred instead of allowing people to communicate based on justice in Allah's sight.

I mean - it is wrong to attempt to satanically seduce and harrass a man's wife and children on their way to school in defiance of Allah until the man finds no other avenue but offer a divorce or to home school them - and then to go as far as to accuse the man of depriving his family for not casting them to the dogs whilst pretending - like satan in the Garden of Paradise - to be advocating for the rights of those they seek to corrupt and ruin.


The secularist extremist satanists who reject the truth think they are being clever (masters of the craft) by turning people to false factions (like Pharaoh did) and then oppressing a party amonst them and pretending to be nice to another party amongst them despite their God given right to not be pushed filthiness and abomination along with their God given right to drive vehicles.
However the plots of the unjust end in nothing but errors and delusions.

The absence of the arguments from the full spectrum of the debates is also proof of the fact that secularist extremist satanic journalist monopoly companies are not informing people - but are rather manipulating their emotional side by instilling rebellion or guilt in an otherwise lawful act (as has been amply demonstrated through an unwilling bearer of burdens) instead of gratitude to Allah and taqwa of Him.

Thus did Pharaoh make fools of his people and they obeyed him - truly they were a people rebellious (against Allah).






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1. Ta. Sin. Mim.
2. These are Verses of the Book that makes (things) clear.
3. We rehearse to thee some of the story of Moses and Pharaoh in Truth, for people who believe.
4. Truly Pharaoh elated himself in the land and broke up its people into sections, depressing a small group among them: their sons he slew, but he kept alive their females: for he was indeed a maker of mischief.
5. And We wished to be Gracious to those who were being depressed in the land, to make them leaders (in Faith) and make them heirs,
6. To establish a firm place for them in the land, and to show Pharaoh, Haman, and their hosts, at their hands, the very things against which they were taking precautions.
7. So We sent this inspiration to the mother of Moses: “Suckle (thy child), but when thou hast fears about him, cast him into the river, but fear not nor grieve: for We shall restore him to thee, and We shall make him one of Our apostles.”
8. Then the people of Pharaoh picked him up (from the river): (It was intended) that (Moses) should be to them an adversary and a cause of sorrow: for Pharaoh and Haman and (all) their hosts were men of sin.
9. The wife of Pharaoh said: “(Here is) joy of the eye, for me and for thee: slay him not. It may be that he will be use to us, or we may adopt him as a son.” And they perceived not (what they were doing)!
10. But there came to be a void in the heart of the mother of Moses: She was going almost to disclose his (case), had We not strengthened her heart (with faith), so that she might remain a (firm) believer.

From Quran Chapter 28 - The Narrations.





46. We did send Moses aforetime, with Our Signs, to Pharaoh and his Chiefs: He said, “I am an apostle of the Lord of the Worlds.”
47. But when he came to them with Our Signs, behold they ridiculed them.
48. We showed them Sign after Sign, each greater than its fellow, and We seized them with Punishment, in order that they might turn (to Us).
49. And they said, “O thou sorcerer! Invoke thy Lord for us according to His covenant with thee; for we shall truly accept guidance.”
50. But when We removed the Penalty from them, behold, they broke their word.
51. And Pharaoh proclaimed among his people, saying: “O my people! Does not the dominion of Egypt belong to me, (witness) these streams flowing underneath my (palace)? What! see ye not then?
52. “Am I not better than this (Moses), who is a contemptible wretch and can scarcely express himself clearly?
53. “Then why are not gold bracelets bestowed on him, or (why) come (not) with him angels accompanying him in procession?”
54. Thus did he make fools of his people, and they obeyed him: truly were they a people rebellious (against Allah..
55. When at length they provoked Us, We exacted retribution from them, and We drowned them all.
56. And We made them (a people) of the Past and an Example to later ages.
57. When (Jesus) the son of Mary is held up as an example, behold, thy people raise a clamour thereat (in ridicule)!
58. And they say, “Are our gods best, or he?” This they set forth to thee, only by way of disputation: yea, they are a contentious people.
59. He was no more than a servant: We granted Our favour to him, and We made him an example to the Children of Israel.
60. And if it were Our Will, We could make angels from amongst you, succeeding each other on the earth.
61. And (Jesus) shall be a Sign (for the coming of) the Hour (of Judgment): therefore have no doubt about the (Hour), but follow ye Me: this is a Straight Way.
62. Let not Satan hinder you: for he is to you an enemy avowed.
63. When Jesus came with Clear Signs, he said: “Now have I come to you with Wisdom, and in order to make clear to you some of the (points) on which ye dispute: therefore fear Allah and obey me.
64. “For Allah, He is my Lord and your Lord: so worship ye Him: this is a Straight Way.”
65. But sects from among themselves fell into disagreement: then woe to the wrong-doers, from the Penalty of a Grievous Day!
66. Do they only wait for the Hour – that it should come on them all of a sudden, while they perceive not?
67. Friends on that day will be foes, one to another,- except the Righteous.
68. My devotees! no fear shall be on you that Day, nor shall ye grieve,-
69. (Being) those who have believed in Our Signs and bowed (their wills to Ours) in Islam.

From Quran Chapter 43 - az-Zukhruf - Ornaments of Gold