Argumentative Essay On Saudi Women

Right now, in Saudi Arabia, women are not issued driving license, as they are forbidden by traditions to drive. However, a great number of women have an international license. According to the gulf news, “…the number of women who hold "international driving licences" is estimated at 50,000, many come from the upper middle class and the upper class of the society.”(Al-Tamimi 3). However, these women are not able to drive their cars in Saudi Arabia, due to an unofficial ban. Manal Al-Sharif is one of the women who challenged this ban, and led campaigns in an attempt to lift it. Al-Sharif is one of the first women who made me look again at how many issues regarding women I’ve dismissed, and helped me learn that change can begin with one action, but needs cooperation and teamwork to actually happen.
When I was around the age of 13-16, I used to be obsessed with the Saudi romantic novels that I read online. They weren’t published nor edited, but I was blown away by them nonetheless. I have only been to the Saudi kingdom once when I was around 7, and barely remember that visit. So, all of my knowledge about that country came from the free unpublished novels that I could find online. I remember swooning at how perfect the Saudi men described in in these stories were. The way they were written, made them nothing like how the men in my family act

for sure.
For example, my father never once cut short his very important meetings to take my mother to the tailor to get her evening dress like those fictional characters did. Rather, my mother always had to drive herself there in order to get them. In my head I used to repeat “Really, dad? Can’t you be a bit more perfect for my ma?” I was convinced that I had the worst luck ever for not being born Saudi.
Later on, I made many friendships, and we spent countless hours on MSN discussing our favourite online novels. I became friends with a few of the people who wrote these stories and got to know them a bit more, and they admitted to me that things in real life aren’t as perfect as they, the authors, make it seem in the stories they write. Their observation of the men in their family actually tells them that Saudi men are the same as men everywhere else. Some are great at taking care of their families, but a huge part prefers going out with their friends and male cousins over facing the responsibilities they have for their families. So really, their stories were more of a description of how they hoped men actually were.
From reading 100+ stories a month where the heroes are all located in Saudi Arabia. I had the vague idea that driving was not permitted in Saudi Arabia, but the information was always presented to me in a romanticised way. In essence, following every sentence starting with “women are not allowed to drive,” was something similar to “because they are queens, and did you ever see a queen drive?” or “because they are our jewels, and we want their comfort!” Therefore, I kind of was in love with the idea of having someone who loves me so much, that he doesn’t want me to be tired by driving around. And until years later, I didn’t see anything wrong with the ban on driving. To me, Saudi Arabia was perfect.
Fast forward, I grew, I learnt, and I cringed, a lot.

Saudi Arabia went from “a heavenly country” for me, to a country whose politics make me very angry. Most of my learning experience came gradually. However, one person who made me cry at night, and reflect over how close I was to growing up an entirely different person, was Manal Al-Sharif. Al-Sharif is one of my favourite Muslim feminists whom I truly admire for her pure heart, daring actions, and unsurpassed confidence. She made me reflect on and realize how truly blind I was to the suffering of the women of Saudi Arabia, and the women living in the rural parts of my

country.
Al-Sharif is a women rights activist from Saudi Arabia who is mostly known for the “Women2drive” Campaign that she cofounded in 2011. Manal Al-Sharif used media outlets, specifically Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, to gather as many Saudi women with international driving license as she can and urge them to start driving in Saudi Arabia starting from 17 June 2011.
Like all great things in life, it all started during a normal day at work. Al-Sharif, who was working at a Saudi company as an internet security consultant, was complaining to a co-worker about how tiring it is finding a ride home sometimes, and how she, being a divorced single mother, meant that she had to run many errands, and trying to call a taxi only for them to tell you they are busy can be very humiliating. Al-Sharif’s co-worker then pointed out an interesting loophole in the system, he told her: "But there is no law banning you from driving." (Al-Sharif). He explained that the government simply issues no driving licenses to women. However, no law is actually written that specifically forbids a woman from driving.
Intrigued, Al-Sharif researched this the moment she returned home, and true to her co-worker’s word, the only thing stopping women from driving was the traditions, the society around them, and a debunked idea that is forbidden in Islam. This information made Manal Al-Sharif and couple of her friends get together and start the “Women2drive” campaign. Her campaign main goal was, as Al-Sharif explains "This is a volunteer campaign to help the girls of this country [learn to drive]. At least for times of emergency, God forbid. What if whoever is driving them gets a heart attack?"
To advertise her campaign, Al-Sharif realized that she needs to show women incentive to join her campaign, and that they can do it. For that, she drove around the city of Khobar on May the 19th while her friend Al-Huwaider filmed her, and then uploaded the video on YouTube.