Saudi women take the wheel, test-driving a new freedom
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Fatima Salem giggles with hesitation when it’s her turn to drive through a small parking lot lined with bright orange cones and arrows. Like millions of Saudi women, she plans on applying for a driver’s license when the kingdom lifts its ban on women driving in June. But first, she has to learn how to drive.
“I’m a little nervous,” the 30-year-old master’s student said.
Francesca Pardini, an Italian former racecar driver, helps calm her nerves, reminding Salem to check the mirrors and buckle up. Once on the road, Pardini reached over to help straighten out the wheel after a left turn, and they both lurched forward when Salem stepped on the brakes before a stop sign.
The right to drive, which people in other countries gain as teenagers after a similar ordeal — derisively referred to as driver’s ed — has been denied to Saudi women. Dozens who dared to protest and defy the ban over the years were jailed, prosecuted and stigmatized.