Saudi Arabia: A Woman Challenges the Law by Driving in Jeddah · Global Voices
Mona Kareem

Women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to drive. One Saudi woman recently claimed that right when she drove her children to school in Jeddah. Netizens debate the move, with many applauding the woman, Najla Hariri, for her heroic feat.
The debate to allow women to drive cars has been ebbing and flowing in the oil-rich conservative kingdom for many years. The religious authorities have always viewed this right, if granted, as something that will ruin women and the whole of society, while liberals, along with a lot of Saudi women, say it is a basic right that women should naturally have, especially those who cannot afford to employ a driver.
A picture of Najla Hariri taken from her Twitter account @hariri65.
Najla Hariri‘s feat stormed the Internet, and on Twitter, the long debate continued between those who refused what Najla had done and those who praised her courage and struggle to prove that society is wrong in banning women from driving cars. Hariri reacted kindly to the praise she got in comments through her Twitter account saying [ar]:
أعزائي، جعلتم مني رائدة ورمز، أنا لست أي من ذلك، انا أم وجدت نفسها في احتياج لأخذ زمام المبادرة، ففعلت من غير بطولات ولا انجازات
Saudi blogger Fouad Al-Farhan wrote a comment [ar] on what Mrs Hariri had done, saying:
ما قامت به الأستاذة نجلاء حريري من قيادة سيارتها يوم أمس في جدة وتوصيل أطفالها هو حق حلال ومشروع ومصادرة الحق ظلم
Another Saudi tweep, Abdulrahman Kattoa, praised what Najla did, describing [ar] her as another Rosa Park, the African-American civil rights movement activist:
ما يكسر حاجز الخوف إلا الشجعان زي ما كسرت الأمريكية في الباص الاضطهاد العنصري في أمريكا
A Saudi male doctor, Rami Niazy, expressed his feelings of disappointment to see Saudis still debating the issue of allowing women to drive cars. He wrote a tweet [ar] saying:
كلما تذكرت أننا لا زلنا نناقش المرأة تسوق ولا لأ في سنة ٢٠١١ ٬ اشعر بإحباط شديد. الناس طلعوا القمر من ٤٠ سنة
Saudi columnist Essam Al-Zamel wrote in his Twitter account a side comment on the debate of women driving saying [ar]:
أتمنى أن لا يحول التيار الإسلامي قيادة المرأة إلى صراع بين الاسلاميين والليبراليين. فقيادة المرأة تخص المرأة وليس الليبراليين
Kuwaiti columnist Abdullah Zaman wrote a tweet in English to Mrs Hariri praising her courage:
Najla, I envy you for what you did today. You got the guts to be a symbol of the will in the women’s world.
Saudi political activist Waleed Abu Alkhair pointed out [ar] the importance of what Mrs Hariri had done:
باختصار سياقة نجلاء حريري لسيارتها في وسط جدة ووقت الذروة ولمسافة طويلة دون أي مضايقات يبدد ما يشاع عن مجتمعنا أنه سوف يؤذي المرأة إن ساقت