Women drivers 'too risky'
2005-06-01 09:13
Riyadh - It took just a simple proposal from a member of Saudi Arabia's consultative council for the lifting of a ban on women drivers to stir a heated debate on a taboo subject in the ultra-conservative kingdom.
"An earthquake happened in Saudi Arabia," said Mohammad al-Zulfa, a member of the Shura council, an advisory body with no legislative powers, describing the fall-out from his proposal last week.
The debate has raged ever since, especially in local newspapers, in the world's only country where women are banned from getting behind the wheel.
Women in oil-rich Saudi Arabia are likewise banned from travelling without the authorisation of their male guardian, and cannot dine alone in a restaurant. They also have to cover themselves from head to toe when in public.
Zulfa, a professor of history before joining the appointed council, said his proposal was like kicking a wasps' nest.
"There is a very strong opposition from a very small minority," he said in an interview.
Only 'mature' women would drive
"They always talk on behalf of the people. They say they talk in the name of Allah," Zulfa said, in a reference to the ultra-conservatives who wield great influence.
The council of grand ulamas (religious scholars), the highest religious authority in the country, issued a fatwa, or religious decree, in 1990 stipulating that women driving was against the rules of Islam.
Zulfa thought he had introduced his proposal tactfully as part of an uncontroversial debate on road safety.
He argued that lifting the ban on women drivers could resolve what he considers to be a serious social problem - the presence of about one million foreign drivers needed to enable Saudi women to move around.
Cars driven by Asian drivers with veiled women in the back seat are a common feature of big towns in Saudi Arabia.
Zulfa said the obligation to hire a driver represented a financial burden for families with limited income, and cost the country more than 12 billion riyals ($3.2bn) a year.
But the 61-year-old Shura member thinks that a bigger danger lurks there as women and young girls spend long hours in the company of foreign drivers.
"This is against Islam, for a woman to be with a stranger. It's forbidden," he said. On the other hand, "there is nothing in the Qu'ran that says women do not have the right to drive."
Risk
Besides, his proposal would concern only women over 35 years old who are "responsible and mature enough", Zulfa argued.
But the case failed to impress the ultra-conservatives, who insist that a woman driver is at risk of encountering a strange man - a horror for Wahhabism, the strict interpretation of Islam followed in Saudi Arabia.
Zulfa, however, thinks that the reason behind the outcry is simpler than that. "The ulemas do not want to lose their authority. Anything dealing with women, it's the ulemas" who decide, he said.
But he received thousands of protest phone calls as soon as the news of his proposal became public.
"I suffer because of this huge number of phone calls. They say 'you are wrong. This is against Islam. You should be afraid of Allah.' And they use also very bad language," he said.
Big issue
Zulfa said he also attracted some backing. "I knew I would be under attack, but I'm very happy, because the silent majority has started to say, 'We support you,'" he said.
For the moment, the proposal remains blocked in the council.
As far as the Saudi authorities are concerned, Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, has remained silent.
"If he (Abdullah) said half a word to the president of the council, if he just gave a sign, it (the project) would be discussed. But he wants to remain neutral," said Zulfa.
Doctor Aisha al-Manea, one of 47 women who defied the ban in 1990 and took part in a Riyahd demonstration drive, believes that for Saudi women to drive one day "there should be a political decision at the highest level".
The authorities "are not willing to do that, because there is a group of fundamentalists who are making a big issue out of it," she said. But, one day, they will "have to make that decision. It's not a luxury. It's a necessity."