Saudi women will be allowed to drive in the kingdom in 2018

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia's surprise decision to grant women the right to drive in the conservative kingdom marks a significant expansion in women's rights, but activists said Wednesday it is also only the first step in a long list of demands for equality.

Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world to ban women from driving. The royal decree late Tuesday comes into effect next summer, but it comes nearly three decades after women began agitating for the right to drive.

As recently as 2013, dozens of women uploaded videos online of themselves behind the wheel of a car during a campaign launched by Saudi rights activists. Some videos showed families and male drivers giving women a "thumbs-ups," suggesting many were ready for the change.

While women in other Muslim countries drove freely, the kingdom's blanket ban attracted negative publicity. Neither Islamic law nor Saudi traffic law explicitly prohibited women from driving, but they were not issued licenses and were detained if they attempted to drive. More at link.
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