Saudi Prince Alwaleed: ‘Stop the debate, time for women to drive’

RIYADH // Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal wants an “urgent” end to his country’s ban on women driving, saying that overturning the law is a matter of women’s rights and economic necessity. “Stop the debate: Time for women to drive,” Prince Alwaleed said on his official Twitter account, @Alwaleed_Talal. Prince Alwaleed is a long-time advocate of women’s rights in the kingdom, which is the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive. This isn’t the first time that Prince Alwaleed has made a case for women drivers. In April 2013 he said allowing women to drive would help the economy, as well as Riyadh’s campaign to reduce the number of illegal foreign workers in the country. The prince’s office also issued a statement on Tuesday, outlining his reasons for supporting an end to the ban. “Preventing a woman from driving a car is today an issue of rights similar to the one that forbade her from receiving an education or having an independent identity,” Prince Alwaleed said. “They are all unjust acts by a traditional society, far more restrictive than what is lawfully allowed by the precepts of religion.” He also detailed the “economic costs” of women having to rely on foreign private drivers or taxis, since public transit is not a viable alternative in the kingdom. Using foreign drivers drains billions of dollars from the Saudi economy, he said. He calculated that families spend an average of 3,800 riyals (Dh3,721) a month on a driver, money that could otherwise help household incomes at a time when many are making do with less. Even if women’s husbands can take time out to transport them, that requires temporarily leaving the office and “undermines the productivity of the workforce”, he said. “Having women drive has become an urgent social demand predicated upon current economic circumstances.” The prince said he is making his call on behalf of those with “limited means”. * Agence France-Presse