Fourteen Female U.S. Senators Urge Saudi King To Grant Women Right To Drive

While most of Washington was stuck in the ideological gridlock of the debt ceiling debate, a bipartisan coalition of female Senators came together Tuesday to urge King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to finally allow the women of his country to drive legally. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that bars women from driving a vehicle -- bicycles included.

Fourteen of the 17 female senators, including Democrats and Republicans, signed a letter to the Saudi king that reads, in part:

"As women members of the United States Senate, we write in support of the increasing number of Saudi women and men calling for the removal of the driving ban on women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As you know, Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world with such a ban on women driving, and maintaining such a restriction stands in stark contrast with the commitments your government has made to promote the rights of Saudi women.”

This consortium was led by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.). Others who signed included Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine).

While the letter acknowledges that the king has appointed Saudi Arabia's first female deputy minister and has created a university that allows men and women to study side by side (and drive side by side on streets enclosed by the campus walls), the senators assert that "more must be done" and that lifting the driving ban is a critical step in the right direction.

Although women have defied the ban periodically since the 1990s, the campaign to end the archaic law gained traction in May when 32-year-old engineer Manal al-Sharif was imprisoned for over a week after she defied the unwritten but heavily enforced ban. Dubbed the "Saudi Rosa Parks," al-Sharif posted a video of her freedom drive on Youtube.

Mobilized via a Facebook campaign, a group of 30 to 40 more Saudi women got behind the wheel in dissent on June 17th, and they have been driving ever since. In the past month, several have reportedly been arrested.

In a press release, Change.org called the demonstrator's resistance the largest women's rights protest in Saudi History, noting that the protest has spread far beyond the Middle East. The organization claims that its group Saudi Women for Driving has garnered the support of over 160,000 people from over 156 countries through social media.

The Senators' letter rides on the coattails of that social media campaign, which successfully urged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to speak out in support of Saudi women's right to drive.

After a Change.org petition urging the Secretary to take a stand against the driving ban reached over 20,000 signatures, Clinton quit what a State Department spokesperson described as "quiet diplomacy" and publicly announced, “What these women are doing is brave and what they are seeking is right… I am moved by it and I support them.”

Saudi Women for Driving recently petitioned Subaru to stop selling cars to Saudi Arabia until women have the right to drive.

Comments

[nancynancy]

12:46 PM on 08/01/2011

I'm surprised Huff Post is reporting this story since so many on this website complained that criticism of Muslims led to the events in Oslo and will trigger WWIII. Well, it's good to see we still have some freedom of speech left.

[Yank in France]

02:39 PM on 08/01/2011

Nancynancy, just who told you that Oslo was caused by criticism of Muslims?

Perhaps it is time to JUST SAY NO TO DRUGS!!

[Bryneen Gary]

12:02 PM on 08/01/2011

THAT'S crazy. I mean it hurts those Men over there that Bad, to see their Women drive. Jesus Christ, can you please change that, for the sake of living a normal life. Goodness

[chickenflu4]

07:46 PM on 07/29/2011

i would request US president to ban women for driving here instead! they just can't drive!

[Gilbert Albright]

09:24 AM on 07/29/2011

Women should be allowed to drive from the kitchen to the bedroom!

[Dede Eagleburger]

09:45 AM on 07/29/2011

oh my god, didn't you already post this once?? it doesn't make any more sense this time

[hiitskim]

01:40 AM on 07/28/2011

frankly, i find this to be the most disingenuous bullshit i've heard all week. our women senators should encourage their colleagues to get out of bed with the saudi royal family, then maybe - maybe - they can start dictating to the very country that owns our asses.

[ellwood145]

10:37 PM on 07/27/2011

How are they going to see safely to drive with those burkas on. DON"T do it.

[oceanview136]

08:22 PM on 07/27/2011

I am joining with our US Senators to request that the driving ban be lifted in Saudi Arabia for women !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ldyqtee6]

07:35 PM on 07/27/2011

I think these senators must be ignoring several of the Orthodox Jewish enclaves in the United States that also ban women from driving. Oh but right, that's okay because their Jewish.

[ArChiMi]

08:40 PM on 07/27/2011

And what country are those Jewish enclaves in? The U.S? The difference is that those Orthodox Jewish women obey their husbands and fathers. Legally they can drive if they want to, they choose not to. In Saudi Arabia, they are not allowed to have a drivers licensee, hence making their driving illegal.

[Vlad Roudenko]

04:32 PM on 07/30/2011

What a bunch of nonsense. Perhaps you should do a little more research before posting. Nothing in the Jewish Code of Law bans women from driving. Give it a read before you post again on this matter.

[projustice]

04:51 PM on 07/27/2011

Dr. Salih bin Fawzan, a cleric in Saudi Arabia’s highest religious council, has reportedly issued a fatwa asserting that there is no minimum age for marriage and that girls can be married “even if they are in the cradle, according to World reporter Tiffany Gabbay,

What are the odds they are going to let women drive??

According to Gabbay, Fawzan allegedly insists that nowhere does Sharia set an age limit for marrying girls: like countless Muslim scholars before him, he relies on Koran 65:4, which discusses marriage to females who have not yet begun menstruating (i.e., are prepubescent) and the fact that Muhammad, Islam’s role model, married Aishawhen she was 6-years-old, “consummating” the marriage—or, in modern parlance, raping her—when she was 9.

[see-ellen2001]

01:32 PM on 07/30/2011

Pro justice...the fatwa is bs. A Muslim woman has to give her consent to be married. Last I checked, infants in cradles are not able to do that.

[projustice]

04:53 PM on 07/30/2011

You better call Dr. Salih bin Fawzan and let him know it's bs. Maybe the photo was faked showing the men with their child brides also.

I know the Taliban were never extreme and they all seem to treat women so well in the middle east.

Of course, the clothing police aren't really all that serious either.

[charlietuna11]

04:29 PM on 07/27/2011

i agree with the lady senators letter to saudi arabia requesting that saudi women be allowed to drive. now send a letter to the israeli govt. requesting that palastinians be allowed to drive on the same roads they travel.

[stunsitfel]

04:26 PM on 07/27/2011

3 wars, debt crisis, unemployment at 9.2%, etc and these clowns are jawing about this???? Please notice they are all Dem's (I don't consider Snowe a Republican).

[skepticaldoc]

04:56 PM on 07/27/2011

It's called "multitasking," and standing up for womens' rights is an important issue. It may not be a revolution, but rather an evolution. It's completely amazing that this still exists (amongst many other things) in our world today.

[stunsitfel]

05:01 PM on 07/27/2011

The way the Senate is handling the debt crisis they should stick to one subject at a time.

[TallThinMan]

03:26 PM on 07/27/2011

Its truly comedic that these den of liberal senators are taking it upon themselves to order around a country that exemplifies the origins of Islam (not to mention the purveyor of much of the oil we consume). It just shows how clueless these lawmakers are...how exactly are you going to demand someone else to fix their house when you cant even get your own in order (that being the US). Another notch in the self serving self-righteousness of these power hungry liberals

[realitybaby]

02:54 PM on 07/27/2011

support the Saudi women in all rights they seek - Saudi King - SLAVE OWNER!

[Tony McDay]

02:49 PM on 07/27/2011

Debt, Unemployment, etc. Focus Please Ladies!

[LoyalBob]

02:55 PM on 07/27/2011

Riiiiight. Women can only do one thing at a time.

Have you never watched your mother multitask?

[ringmaster]

02:35 PM on 07/27/2011

Woman in Iran were allowed to drive until we liberated them.