Let me drive by myself says Wajeha

Women are banned from driving on main roads in Saudi Arabia and face harsh penalties for getting behind the wheel. Activist Wajeha al-Huwaider is protesting against the prohibition by appealing to the authorities in a video clip - which she filmed from the driving seat of her car.

Posted 7 March 08

Excerpts:

Today is international women's day. (...) Yes I'm driving a car in a rural region and it is allowed for women to drive in these areas. It's in the cities that it's prohibited and that's a shame because that's where it's needed most.

And the occasion today: I hope His Highness Prince Nayef Ibn Abdel Aziz will lift the prohibition and let us drive soon.

We, the women who've signed the petition that we're sending to him today, we all hold driving licenses and we're ready to help the Saudi state help women get their driving licenses.

According to the authorities, it's not a question of politics or religion, but a social issue. We know that many women are able to drive and many families let them.

In light of this, I think that if we get the opportunity it will be the fastest and best way to change attitudes and make people understand that we're ready to drive.

I hope that at the same celebration next year this prohibition will have been lifted."

"They’ll get used to it. And they’ll build some kind of respect [for women]"

Author of the video Wajeha al-Huwaider is a Saudi women's rights activist:

Outside the city limits women drive all the time. They can't afford to stay at home and let the husband do the business. Like me, I drive in a compound, so I drive to work every day. When Saudi men come here or go abroad they see women driving and there's no problem. They'll get used to it. And they'll build some kind of respect [for women]. If they see us doing the same things they're doing; not just sat at home. Women here have no control over their lives. But I think it's going to get better.

[If women started driving] the government would need to lay down some restrictions to protect them [from hostile male drivers], have more police- some female police- introduce it gradually. It can't happen overnight. But they can do it! It would be like when women started to go to school, they were threatened to be killed at first, and now, there are more women at school than men.

There's a strong rumour going round that the king's approved the law to let us drive, but there's no proof."

"I‘m against the idea of women driving...for the traffic jams it would cause"

Abdullah, a young Saudi from Riyadh:

I‘m against the idea of women driving in Saudi Arabia for two reasons. Firstly, for the traffic jams it would cause. At the moment women are driven by chauffeurs, so there are usually a few of them in the car. If they start to drive by themselves, there will be more cars and therefore more traffic jams.

The second reason is that some Saudis aren't used to coming so close to women. Our society is still a bit tribal. Some men spend their whole lives like that; they don't come into contact with women until the age of 40. So there's a lack of communication. If women start driving it will create a strange situation that could cause problems."