Saudi Arabian women are celebrating being able to drive for the first time in decades, after the kingdom overturned the world’s only ban on female motorists, a historic reform expected to usher in a new era of social mobility.
The move is part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s wide-ranging drive to modernise the conservative petrostate – but it has coincided with a sweeping crackdown on female activists who long opposed the driving ban.
Women in Riyadh and other cities began driving around streets bathed in amber light soon after the ban was lifted at midnight, with some blasting music from behind the wheel.
“I always knew this day would come. But it came fast. Sudden,” said the talkshow host and writer Samar Almogren as she drove across the capital. “I feel free like a bird.”
Television presenter Sabika al-Dosari said the end of the ban was “a historic moment for every Saudi woman”, before driving a sedan across the border to Bahrain.
The lifting of the ban, a glaring symbol of repression, is expected to be transformative for many women, freeing them from dependence on private chauffeurs or male relatives.
Euphoria was mixed with disbelief as women across the kingdom flooded social media with photos and videos of their maiden car rides, with a heavy police presence in major cities.
“This is a great achievement,” Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal said as his daughter Reem drove a family SUV, with his granddaughters applauding from the back seat.
“Now women have their freedom,” he added in a video posted on Twitter.
Three million women in Saudi Arabia could receive licences and begin driving by 2020, according to the consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The kingdom earlier this month began issuing its first driving licences to women in decades, with some swapping their foreign permits for Saudi licences after a practical test.
A handful of female driving schools have started up in several cities, training women to drive cars as well as Harley Davidson motorbikes – scenes unimaginable even a year ago.
In a nation torn between modernity and tradition. Many are also bracing for a backlash from arch-conservatives who spent decades preaching that allowing female motorists would promote promiscuity and sin.
Saudi society has been dominated by Wahhabism, a harsh strain of conservative Islam, since the 1979 seizure of the Grand Mosque of Mecca by about 400 extremists.
Many women fear they are still easy prey for conservatives in a country where male “guardians” – their fathers, husbands or other relatives – can exercise arbitrary authority to make decisions on their behalf.
The government has preemptively addressed concerns of abuse by outlawing sexual harassment, and authorities have sternly warned against stalking women drivers.
“To all men I say, be gentle towards women [drivers],” popular Saudi singer Mohammed Abdu said in an online video.
Prince Mohammed, appointed heir to the most powerful throne in the Middle East a year ago this month, has also lifted a ban on women attending cinemas and mixed-gender concerts, following his public vow to return the kingdom to moderate Islam.
However, much of the initial optimism over his reforms appears to have been dented by a major crackdown on women driving activists. Authorities have said nine of 17 arrested people remain behind bars, accused of undermining security and aiding enemies of the state.
The detainees include 28-year-old Loujain al-Hathloul – also held in 2014 for more than 70 days for attempting to drive from neighbouring United Arab Emirates to Saudi Arabia – and Aziza al-Yousef, a retired professor at Riyadh’s King Saud University.
State-backed newspapers have published front-page pictures of some of the activists with the word “traitor” stamped across them in red.
It has been seen as a calculated move both to placate clerics incensed by his modernisation drive and also to send a clear signal to activists that the prince alone is the arbiter of change.
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