Saudi women’s group to lobby for right to drive

Television show takes up issue
Although the furor over al-Zulfa’s comments has abated, anything that touches on the issue provokes strong feelings.

In the weeks ushering in the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began Thursday, a furious debate erupted in a Saudi newspaper over a Ramadan television serial that takes up the hardships the ban has caused.

In the serial, “Amsha bint Ammash,” the main character, Amsha, loses her father and is forced to relocate from her village to Jiddah. After an unsuccessful round of job searching, she decides to become a taxi driver — a job open only to men.

To get around the ban, she disguises herself as a man, adding a mustache and donning the white robe and red-and-white-checkered headdress Saudi men wear.

When the program was first advertised, some reacted with shock that a Saudi woman was not only portraying a man, but also one who drives. Conservatives say women should not emulate men in behavior or dress.

The controversy has forced the serial’s writer, Abdullah Abdul-Amer, to issue a statement stressing the goal of the program, aired on the Lebanese satellite channel LBC, “is not to incite women to drive.”

“All I wanted to do was raise our contemporary issues from a Saudi viewpoint and through comedy,” said Abdul-Amer.

But that has not appeased Saudis determined to uphold the driving ban.

In a letter to Al-Hayat daily titled “Amsha, we don’t need you,” reader Iman Abdul-Wahhab wondered why the driving issue “has become an obsession for many, Saudis and non-Saudis.”

“Has this become a weak point for us?” she wrote. “As a Saudi girl, I say, ‘No.”’

“This is a tradition that has become acceptable,” she added. “No one has any right to use it as a means to mock or ridicule.”

Some women oppose ending ban
On Monday, another Saudi newspaper, Al-Watan, ran an article about a major car dealership sending out invitations for women in Jiddah to come try out a new family sedan for 24 hours. But the dealership stressed the invitation was for women and their drivers, who are the only ones permitted to test-drive the cars.

Al-Oyouni said she understands that some women oppose ending the ban.

“We won’t force it on those who don’t want it,” she said.

The petition, circulated electronically for signatures, has received a lot of support from within the kingdom, from both men and women, as well as from outside Saudi Arabia, al-Oyouni said. “This is a right that has been delayed for too long.”

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