PHOTOS: Saudi women behind the wheel smile as ban on female drivers end

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Saudi women on Sunday shared their excitement as the ban on female drivers was officially lifted, a ban long viewed as a symbol of the repression of women’s rights in the deeply conservative Muslim kingdom.

King Salman ordered the ban be lifted last September as part of sweeping reforms put forward by his powerful son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Crown Prince has been working hard to transform the image and economy of Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter.

“It is our right, and finally we took it. It is only a matter of time for society to accept it,” Samira al-Ghamdi told Reuters, a 47-year-old psychologist from Jeddah, as she drove herself to work.

“It’s a beautiful day,” businesswoman Samah al-Qusaibi said as she drove around the eastern city of Khobar just after midnight. “Today we are here,” she said from the driver’s seat. “Yesterday we sat there,” she pointed to the back.

Western allies of the kingdom welcomed the removal of restrictions to women’s mobility, proof of what they deem to be a new progressive trend in the conservative country.

The driving ban for women had drawn international condemnation for years, with Saudi Arabia’s laws compared to Afghanistan’s Taliban type of ruling.

The spokesperson for Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry stated that 120,000 women had applied for driving licenses out of nearly 9 million women across the country.

Three million women are expected to be on the roads by 2020, most of them to go through training in new state-run schools.

Editing by Nadia Riva