On air at 1100GMT: What does the women's driving protest mean for Saudi Arabia?
| 10:25 UK time, Friday, 17 June 2011
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This topic was discussed on Friday 17 June 2011. Listen to the programme.
Women across the deeply conservative country are being to defy a decades old driving ban. An online campaign has called on women who hold international driving licences to start driving today. The "Women2Drive" campaign has used Facebook and Twitter to encourage women to drive as part of their normal daily activities rather than converge in one place.
outlines to women what they should and shouldn't do today
It's not the first time women have tried to get the driving ban lifted. But last month a woman called of Saudi Arabia and uploaded it to youtube, she was later arrested, but the movement began once more..
compares the movement to that of Rosa Park.
"women are not permitted to share elevators with men. Nor are they allowed to walk in the streets, drive cars, or leave the country without the permission of a male guardian."
"Fatima, a young woman from Mecca, sent me an e-mail at the height of the Egyptian revolution: "Forget about the cries for freedom; I can't even give birth without being accompanied to hospital by a mihrim," or male guardian. She went on, "And the [religious police] have been given the right to humiliate us in public."
MFQahtani tweets
My wife, Maha, and I have just come from a 45-minute drive, she was the driver through Riyadh streets. #saudi #women2drive #WomenRights
angrywhitekid tweets
In 1999, sat next to a woman on a plane who participated in the 1990 driving protest. Told me they burnt her house down after. #women2drive
We'll be speaking to people in Saudi Arabia, not only about the defiance of the driving ban, but what this now means for Saudi society. As the Arab spring continues in countries around Saudi Arabia, with women and men standing side by side protesting, is this the opportunity for women to gain independence?
We'll be speaking to people in Saudi Arabia and hear from Hiba in Dharan who is a professional woman who says she will only drive when the King say she can.
