Saudi Arabia has issued its first driving licences for women three weeks before it ends the world’s only ban on female drivers, though many of the activists who pushed for change are still in jail.
Ten women who held foreign driving licenses were given a health check and brief test behind the wheel before receiving their Saudi permits from the Riydah traffic office. They had been selected from the thousands who have applied, with many more licenses due to be issued by 24 June, when the ban is due to be lifted.
In a country with very limited public transport, the right to drive is an important liberation for women who want to work, meet friends or take their children to school.
“Driving, to me, represents having a choice: the choice of independent movement,” Rema Jawdat, a risk analyst at the Ministry of Economy and Planning and one of the first ten women given licenses, told the government’s media centre.
