Saudi women embrace a new way of life and the freedom that comes from being behind the wheel when they are allowed to drive legally for the first time.
This is such an important documentary in so many ways, not just highlighting women’s rights but also presenting the positive impact on progression this current generation is making worldwide. Living in the United States, I find it difficult to believe that Saudi Arabia was the only country that forbade women from driving a motor vehicle until recently. As I watched this documentary, I wondered, as a woman, what was so fearful, threatening or even undesirable about having us behind the wheel of a car. I think about all of the difficult things we as women endure on a daily basis that men would never be able to handle, like childbirth, raising children all while caring for our homes, going to school or maintaining a career, but driving a car somehow makes people feel uneasy?
Driving is something Americans take for granted because in this country we can expect to receive a learner’s permit as young as 14 in some states and be driving without supervision by 16 or 17 years of age. In Saudi Arabia, where religious and cultural rules are enforced, women are prohibited from many things that men are allowed to do such as drive and travel without being chaperoned. Women who campaigned for the ban to be lifted and were caught secretly driving were arrested.
This new-found freedom of being able to drive has opened the door to a new way of thinking in terms of women’s roles in society. When men were asked what they thought about the ban being lifted on women driving, they were mostly positive, however, there were some who were not only apprehensive about it but wondered if they would now try and compete in other areas of life such as the workplace. A few men described women’s roles as caring for the children and husband’s duties, while women pointed out that times are changing and women are doing far more than taking care of their husband and home which some men weren’t quite ready to hear.
I loved this documentary, it showed not only the beautiful lives of women creating change but also opened the door to a space we rarely get to see; the normal lives of Saudi women who do not feel oppressed or silenced like many perceive them to be. These are powerful, strong women who are just like many of us and are also creating more equality little by little.
Premieres on HBO Friday, October 25th
