Saudi Women Lobby for Right to Drive Women in Saudi Arabia, the only country that bans women drivers, have formed the Committee of Demanders of Women’s Right to Drive Cars in order to lobby King Abdullah for the right to drive. They plan to present their petition by Sunday, coinciding with Saudi Arabia’s National Day.
The ban on female drivers in Saudi Arabia applies to all the women there, Saudi or not. It forces families to hire full-time, live-in male drivers, and leaves those women who cannot afford to do so dependent on their male relatives for transportation. Supporters of lifting the ban point out that it is based on fatwas, or religious edicts, from senior clerics, not the law.
"This is a right that has been delayed for far too long," Fawzia al-Oyouni, a founding member of the committee, told the Associated Press. She said that the petition would highlight what many Saudis, both men and women, view as a "stolen right." Media Resources: BBC News 9/18/07; Associated Press 9/17/07; Daily Telegraph 9/18/07
Personal Reaction to “Saudi Women Lobby for Right to Drive”
I had no idea that Saudi women were restricted the right to drive by the king. That, to me, is extremely “old-timer”. I’d think king Abdullah would have gotten subliminal hints that prohibiting women from driving is not a popular idea by the fact that “his country” is the only country that features such a law. Haha, maybe the king thinks that the law makes Saudi Arabia stand out as a “fun-fact”. Woo hoo! Let’s all go there b/c the country’s is infamous for restricting women the right to drive! Yes, tourist attraction!
I openly express my feelings of the news article in the above, although, I feel that I should have reservation of the topic and any topic regarding a culture/religion I am not informed upon. I have no experiences and proper knowledge of this particular culture. For example, prohibiting women from driving in Saudi Arabia is most likely tied to the restrictions given to women on the account of the dominant religion of the country. Say, this is the case (religion being the source of the restriction of women driving) I feel that I, nor any other being, have the right to establish or invalidate another’s religious belief. I feel that I can deduce an informed discertion upon how right or wrong the restriction on women, if I was informed upon their culture/religion. The only thing I can do is express my opinion in relation to my beliefs and morals—I do not feel that I can deduce an informed discertion upon how right or wrong the restriction on women is, given that the origin of the restriction is religion.
On the other hand, if King Abdullah’s reasoning for restricting women is law because women are culturally inferior, I am comfortable in saying that his discertion is not a valid one. Women are equal to men. The myth that men have the biological upper hand was struck down in the late 90’s, and saying that women are different from men is sexism—discriminating the gender.
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
That's actually common. In most of the "muslim" countries (Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, etc) women really don't have many rights in terms of equality.
Some areas still have, as a punishment for women, female castration, or buyring a woman to her waist in the ground and hitting her with big rocks until she dies.
Groups like NOW and other "Women's rights" groups are content with whining about how hard it is here in the States... which I'd take as an insult if I were a woman from Saudi Arabia.
There are basically only two or three countries that are that strict with women's rights
Pakistani women CAN drive, they have jobs, we had a woman prime minister, we have women in our Parliament so PLEASE DO NOT SPREAD WRONG
INFORMATION...PAKISTANI WoMEN DO HAVE RIGHTS
Those other things you are mentioning, those violent acts against women, I wish you would link to a source for your information..isolated incidents in villages where people are uneducated---these incidents do occur but not in cities and urban centers
Saudi Arabia and Iran are extremely religious nations, they follow a very strict Shariah law (islamic law) and most of the Muslim world does not have such interpretations of Shariah laws....
"I leave my one and only grain of spiritual sand
to universal scales of humanity, all humanity...
forever is finding a solution to a solution." -Forever Begins, Common
http://www.progressiveu.org/231615-this-is-a-muslim-girls-plight
You mean the female prime minister that was the target of a bombing attack just a week or so ago?
as for links to examples of horrible punishments for women in some of those countries:
http://www.apostatesofislam.com/media/stoning.htm
scroll down a bit to get a description and see a video of it taking place. It is a disgusting practice.
also, please note cases of another punishment: "Honor Killings" and it even happens in canada:
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1...
isolated incidents? Per this second link "honor killings" happen around 5,000 times a year.
Unlike past conversations with you, I have NO problem showing links to back up my statements.
I’m well aware of what is happening around this globe in regard to woman and the misfortunes they endure on a daily basis.
That these acts and the one’s of female circumcision still take place and are considered to be a form of culture tradition or religious custom make’s me sick.
These are fine examples of sexual frustrations that have been molded in order to push down woman.
We sadly, still have a long way to go…
I don’t question your statements,
Thanks for the comment,
Oh, I didn't think that YOU did. The poster I was replying to has a history of doing so.
They also have a history of making really 'out there' statements and not backing it up when pressed on it.
I SAID THAT PAKISTAN IS NOT IN THE SAME GROUP AS SAUDI ARAbIA AND IRAN and that most Muslim countries are devoid of these sort of restrictions
I think you have made it a habit to ignore half of my comments.
I did mention that Saudi ARABIA AND IRAN ARE THE PLACES THAT RESTRICTIONS ARE PLACED ON WOMEN"S RIGHTS,
your link shows stuff that happened in IRAN and mentions that these things still happen mainly in iran and afghanistan...Plus, what a bull-shitty link/site....
it blames the religion and not people who interpret the religion wrongly...but whatever on that...
I also mentioned that you don't understand the context of where these things happened and how people come to do them, but that's another complicated matter, YOU JUST WANT TO TOUCH THE SURFACE and not see or understand that it is a problem of lack of education, stupid traditions and other reasons,..
IT DOES NOT MAKE THEM RIGHT...UGLY THINGS ARE DONE BY IGNORANT AND MISGUIDED FOOLS
ON pakistan, the women who had the bomb aimed at her is Benazir Bhutto, and it happened because of POLITICAL REASONS, she has stolen millions in rupees, has corruption charges to answer to, yet she thinks she can come back to Pakistan and run for prime minister again...People do not want her in charge again.
DO NOT CONFUSE THOSE POLITICAL REASONS WITH OTHER MATTER....I really don't see why people think it is because she is a woman
i won't conitnue to argue with you, you've made it a habit to ignoring half of my comments and making degrading comments because you don't like my stance on things--- BUt that's fine----- you are so much better at linking to biased sites and other b.s. than me, sorry I can not meet your standard. I bow to your "superiority"
"I leave my one and only grain of spiritual sand
to universal scales of humanity, all humanity...
forever is finding a solution to a solution." -Forever Begins, Common
http://www.progressiveu.org/231615-this-is-a-muslim-girls-plight
here you are trying to play the victim . . . again.
You're right though, I don't understand the context of someone burying a woman up to her shoulders in the ground and throwing rocks at her until she dies.
I don't understand the contects of someone mutiliating a woman as 'punishment'.
I don't understand the concept of killing a woman as an 'honor killing' because she was the victim of a rape.
I don't understand the context of trying to blow up a woman, killing well over 100 innocent people, because someone disagrees with her politics and didn't want her to be elected as prime minister.
I happen to think that John Kerry was a creep, a liar, a treasonist and an all around general scum... did I organize multiple bombs to go off in hopes of maybe killing him and a bunch of other people? No. I just didn't vote for him.
I don't need to understand the context of people doing evil things. How they JUSTIFY doing evil things doesn't make those evil things good.
Will these woman get “stoned” if they don’t get the right to drive!
Maybe I’m mistaken, I’m not sure in which countries males stone woman.
Or will these woman have to keep silent for ? years?
Luckily woman change the world, but the ones that are to smart unfortunately sometimes pay a heavy price!
Guess you got me a bit wrong there,
What I meant by apparently using the wrong words is that I find all countries, religions or cultural spheres that allow these atrocities to be inflicted upon woman as retarded!
It is quite obvious that people living in those countries have no rights at all in order to bring change in this situation.
Once again, I did not question your comment…
I know. I'm referring to asmaw, not you.
I don't think you questioned my comment.
I agree with you.
Men and woman are equal. (We are not the SAME... we ARE different... but in value we are equal, one not better than the other)