Jeddah, Dec 1: Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal created global headlines on Wednesday after he tweeted saying: “Stop the debate. Time for women to drive.”
The Twitter post, which was linked to a lengthier statement outlining arguments for Saudi women getting behind the wheel, comes a few months after the Kingdom’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also publicly endorsed women’s right to drive.
Bin Salman is leading ambitious and all-encompassing reform efforts for Saudi Arabia, which are embodied in Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Plan (NTP).
The ban is considered a social issue in the Kingdom, as there is no actual law or religious edict that prohibits it. For years, the topic has been the center of extensive debate in government, media and social circles.
For its part, BBC News website ran a story entitled “Prince Alwaleed says women driving ban hurts Saudi economy.” In it, Prince Alwaleed was quoted as saying that “it is high time that Saudi women started driving their cars.”
The Guardian, based in London, and the New York Times also carried news of the prince’s tweet.
Prince Alwaleed’s open letter, in English and Arabic, included an elaborate and well-researched argument for Saudi women to start driving.
He emphasized that the issue has become even more pressing in the current economic circumstances.
“Would it not be better from the standpoint of safety, security, not to mention religious morality, to allow women to drive their own cars than to expose them to the dangers inherent in having them driven alone by foreign males?” the Saudi prince asked in his four-page letter.
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