Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Thelma & Louise Vs. 3abeer & Khadija

Well, not yet, but I can see it coming!

It turns out that Majlis Al Shoura in Saudi Arabia has advised the Court of Ministers regarding women driving in Saudi Arabia. They agreed on a list of rules & regulations.
Of course this will not take effect immediately, it'll take a few years to finalize it...

I know this is a positive step, but I can't help staring in awe at these ridicules rules!

Rules and Regulations regarding women driving vehicles:

1- Must be at least 40 years of age.
2- Must have permission from her guardian (husband or father or brother...)
3- Must have a valid driving license from a womens driving school.
4- Should be modest in clothing and not have makeup on while driving.
5- Women can only drive inside the city if alone. She must have a guardian with her if driving outside the city.
6- Driving is permitted between the hours 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Saturday to Wednesday; 2 p.m. till 8 p.m. on Thursday and Friday.
7- Must have a cell phone with her in case of emergency.
8- In case of a car break down or an accident, she should call Women Police Service for help.
9- She will have to pay a certain amount of money (credit on her driving license) which will be used by Women Police for her tire puncture repair or other maintenance.

Government responsibilities:

1- Creation of female Police force who will be specialized in multiple fields like driving, taking calls with companies to repair cars, rent cars, and also issuing traffic citations.
2- Creation of free women police center for emergency calls.
3- Opening Islamic propagation center in the Women Police department inside the cities.
4- Renewal of driving licenses every year.

Violations in General:

1- If any driver chases a female driver, if caught or proved, will be jailed for minimum 8 months with fine.
2- For those drivers who try to stop women drivers in any way like making their way narrow will be jailed for 1 day with fine.
3- If any driver hurts the women drivers will be jailed for 1 month with fine.

(Notice that if someone "chases" a woman he's jailed 8 months, but if he actually hurts her, only one!)

For Women:

1- Those women drivers who do not follow Islamic behavior their license will be suspended for minimum 6 months with 500-1000 Riyals fine.
2- Their guardian will be notified in writing by the "Hay'et el Amr Bil-Maaroof" (religious police)


Ahhh... What can I say?
Where do I even start?

I won't... I'll say nothing (and knowing me that's very hard to do!)
I'll try to be optimistic & positive and just say that it's good they are working towards reform.

10 comments :

Maya@NYC said...

progress??? where is the progress! kif hek!! and some illuminated man will tell you look, they are trying to "protect" women!... if some men weren't perverts and aggressive, women wouldn't need protection! "guardian"...."guardian!".... whatever!

Unknown said...

Of course, believe me i know, it's VERY frustrating... But since i lived in Saudi i'm trying to see it as a SMALL step forward and i'm giving them credit for even HAVING this meeting and discussing this issue... which was unheard of a few years back.
What can we do, that's the Arab world for ya...

7aki Fadi said...

OK this is what I will say:

TAKHALOF (Retardation).

But on the up side they are creating a lot of female employment for all these policewomen.

The Observer said...

That is so sad! But maybe we can consier it a tiny step forward!

FaiLaSooF said...

Stupid, meaningless and irrational. But I know where that come from because i lived in KSA for 3 months (couldn't last longer, n i had to get out!). Ppl there are so blinded by ooooooollld tradition and male-dominant culture. Anyway, at least it is a step, though it is done in a very stupid way

Betqa said...

If that's progress, than I'm a helicopter...

Betqa said...

than=then <---oopsie and sorry ;)

A Shipless Sailor said...

"I shed a leaf with every word I write... With every leaf I free myself of this myth... There is no shame or guilt in my nakedness... There is only beauty..."
-----------------------------
You beautifully shine in your "leaflessness", Dania. Thank you for sharing these words with us.
I've never left a comment here, but today I really couldn't.
Greetings from a shipless Adam :)

Unknown said...

LOL Betqa

Isam said...

I couldnt agree more with the "retardation" here is KSA ...

but allowing women to drive even under these circumstances is a huge huge leap towards the 20th century :)

well as we say "nos el 3ama wala el 3ama kollo" ...

nice blog ...

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