On September 26, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud issued a decree announcing that the monarchy will, starting next June, begin issuing licenses to women. It’s unclear whether there will be special restrictions on driving privileges, though the decree stipulates that women will be permitted to obtain licenses without getting approval from a male guardian, allaying any concerns that the kingdom’s restrictive “guardianship” laws might undermine the new policy. And a Saudi spokesman made it clear that Saudi women would be able to receive a license at age eighteen, just like Saudi men.
In the wake of the decree, the monarchy announced it would also criminalize sexual harassment within the next sixty days, another important sign of progress. Taken together, these reforms could dramatically improve the work prospects (and, to some extent, autonomy) of Saudi women. It will be considerably easier for middle- and lower-class Saudi women — those who can’t afford chauffeurs — to obtain and hold jobs, and criminalizing sexual harassment (assuming the new law is enforced) should make the workplace less hostile. [...]
The ban on women drivers has long been one of the most visible and easily criticized aspects of the kingdom’s ultra-conservative social policy. And yet for years Riyadh refused to budge on the issue, even when the Taliban’s removal from power in Afghanistan left the kingdom alone in denying women the ability to drive legally. So “why now” is an important question. [...]
The preferred explanation in Saudi media is that the economy demanded it. Low oil prices and the war in Yemen (more on that later) have sent the kingdom’s finances into the red — Riyadh has run up budget deficits totaling over $200 billion since 2014, and is looking at another deficit in excess of $50 billion this year. There’s a reasonable chance that the Saudi economy will contract this year for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis. Freeing more women up to obtain jobs and increasing the pool of potential car buyers should provide economic boosts.
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