Saudi women celebrate huge protest car ride

updated 6:53 a.m. ET Nov. 14, 2008

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - In an ornate living room, a group of women gathered around coffee and date cakes to celebrate the afternoon 18 years ago when they got into cars and drove the streets of Riyadh, a stunning defiance of Saudi Arabia's ban on female driving.

They have only one regret: The ban remains.

The protest, which made headlines around the world, cost the 47 female drivers and passengers dearly. They were arrested, lost their jobs for 2 1/2 years, were banned from travel for a year and were condemned by the powerful clergy as harlots. To this day, some say they have not been promoted at work because of their protest.

On Wednesday night, however, the living room was alive with laughter as a dozen of the women recalled the joy they felt that day, Nov. 6, 1990, and the giggles that filled their small prison cell as they munched on the Hershey kisses one of them had in her bag.

"We were euphoric," Nora al-Ghanem told The Associated Press in a rare invitation to a journalist to join their annual, private commemoration.

"I loved the double takes the men did when they saw us," said Nora al-Sowayan, re-enacting the wide-eyed looks they received as they drove.

Well-planned protest
The women said the timing of the protest was tied to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the massing of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi women saw images of female U.S. soldiers driving around in the desert and heard that Kuwaiti women had driven their children to safety across the border.

The women said the presence of the international media covering the Iraq-Kuwait developments guaranteed their story would reach the whole world and that any government action would be less harsh than if the journalists were not there.

They chose a Tuesday for the protest so they could listen to the gossip about them when they went to work on Wednesday. The names of the women became public the following Friday.

"At my parents' house on Thursday, my aunt was cursing the women who drove," said Nora al-Ghanem, an educator. "That was before the names were released. It was quite funny."

But amid the memories and laughter, there was also the sobering reality that over the past 18 years little progress has been made toward reversing the driving ban — the only such prohibition in the world — and addressing other women's rights issues there.

"We didn't even manage to ride a donkey," snapped one of the women, who did not want her name mentioned for fear of retribution.

MORE FROM MIDEAST & N. AFRICA

Mideast & N. Africa Section Front

Iran: U.N. station near border is for spying   Palestinians fake cancer to flee blockaded Gaza Palestinian files $110M libel suit over ‘Bruno’ Iraq shakes up security after bombings Ukraine OK’s $2.5 billion arms deal with Iraq Man, dog thought dead survive Baghdad blast Iran: Students, militia clash for 2nd day Mideast & N. Africa Section Front   Add Mideast & N. Africa headlines to your news reader: