Women Driving in Saudi Arabia: Female Perceptions Five Years after Lifting of the Ban

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This article begins by interrogating the legal basis for the driving ban in Saudi Arabia to demonstrate that it was a flagrant instantiation of juristic overreach. After this, it uses original survey data to shed light on the perceptions of women driving in Saudi Arabia and how it has contributed to their empowerment and improved their quality of life. Survey findings suggest most women agree that there has been vast improvement, but they insist that the battle for equality is far from over. Indeed, there has been some resistance to the reforms among those who see the changes as pandering to the West. Overall, though, the survey findings suggest that the majority of women in Saudi Arabia want more rights, more women in leadership roles, more safety that they do not feel they have under the male guardianship system, and to be viewed as equal to their male counterparts. The findings are evidence weighing against the flawed reasoning and rationales that were used to justify the driving ban in the first place.