The Saudi king's advisory agency, known as the Saudi Shura Council, may be contemplating ending a current ban on women drivers, according to a recent Associated Press (AP) report. An unnamed government official told AP that the council has recommended lifting the ban during daytime for women over 30. If the recommendation is accepted, women will be allowed to drive from 7am until 8pm from Saturday to Wednesday, and from noon to 8pm on Thursdays and Fridays in the oil-rich state. Women wishing to exercise this privilege will have to provide proof of consent by their legal guardian, which is usually a father or a husband, but is sometimes a son or a brother. Only in cities will women be allowed to drive unescorted by a male member of the family. On highways, it will remain an offence for a woman to go unescorted behind the wheel. A special traffic department will be created for women, with an all-women staff. The department will be supervised by “religious agencies”, the same source stated. The Shura Council is believed to have made this recommendation in a secret session it held last month. Twitter accounts were abuzz with women and rights activists calling the recommendation as a “great social victory”. “The dream has turned into a recommendation! Strings attached? Normal. It'll take time for society to accept it,” went one tweet. The Shura Council is made up of 150 members, including 30 women as of 2012. It has no executive or legislative powers, and its recommendations to the king are non-binding. Council spokesman Mohamed Al-Muhanna, however, denied the news. He told the Saudi newspaper Al-Riyadh that reports about the council endorsing women's right to drive were false. Saudi official media refrained from comment, as did most Shura Council members. The controversy over women's right to drive has gone on for decades in Saudi Arabia. Recently, Saudi women started challenging the ban, driving in certain days and posting images of themselves behind the wheel on social media sites. The last anti-ban campaign was held on Saturday, 26 October. Saudi Arabia has no laws banning women from driving automobiles, but its interior ministry declines to issue women with driver's licences in what amounts to a practical ban that is unique in the region and the world. Over the past two years, two campaigns were launched to challenge the effective ban, but to no avail. Several Saudi women who challenged the ban were forced to sign pledges not to repeat the offence. The news website sabq.org published a letter allegedly sent by women “activists” to the king, protesting the potential lifting of the ban. Adopting the familiar stand of ultraconservative clerics, the letter says that the lifting of the ban would be “of more harm than benefit” and will “lead to adverse social consequences, such as women going out more and neglecting the household, and... worse road accidents and traffic jams”. The “activists” who wrote the letter also note that such a measure could lead to “women drivers being arrested just as men, which undermines the special status that women currently enjoy”. In addition, “some men may impersonate women to commit crimes,” the letter warned.
