Saudi Women Gear Up as the Country Prepares to Lift Its Discriminatory Driving Ban (in Photos)

Varun Nayar
June 23, 2018
Saudi Arabia is set to lift its decades-old ban on women driving on Sunday.
A Saudi woman poses for the camera as she uses a go-cart during a driving workshop for women in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on June 21st, 2018. Saudi Arabia will allow women to drive from June 24th, ending the world's only ban on female motorists, a historic reform marred by what rights groups call an expanding crackdown on activists.

Come this Sunday, men won’t be the only ones allowed on the road and behind the wheel in Saudi Arabia, after King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud announced late last year that the kingdom will lift a decades-long ban on women driving. The decision comes eight months after women were able to run and vote in local elections for the first time in the kingdom’s history.

The civic reform marks a shift in the kingdom’s apparent willingness to embrace more progressive values—at least symbolically—after years of allegations bemoaning the treatment and discrimination of Saudi women in public life.

Here are some recent snapshots from the Gulf Kingdom as its female citizens gear up to hit the road.

People relax on a Friday evening along the Corniche waterfront as the Al Rahma mosque stands behind on June 22nd, 2018, in Jeddah.
People relax on a Friday evening along the Corniche waterfront as the Al Rahma mosque stands behind on June 22nd, 2018, in Jeddah.

(Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

A commercial advertising billboard shows two women in a car with one behind the wheel on June 21st, 2018, in Jeddah.
A commercial advertising billboard shows two women in a car with one behind the wheel on June 21st, 2018, in Jeddah.

(Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Teenage girls in Jeddah pose behind a model car on June 22nd, 2018, while holding up certificates for completing an outdoor educational driving event for women.
Teenage girls in Jeddah pose behind a model car on June 22nd, 2018, while holding up certificates for completing an outdoor educational driving event for women.

(Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

A Saudi woman poses for the camera as she uses a go-cart during a driving workshop for women in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on June 21st, 2018. Saudi Arabia will allow women to drive from June 24th, ending the world's only ban on female motorists, a historic reform marred by what rights groups call an expanding crackdown on activists.
A Saudi woman poses for the camera as she uses a go-cart during a driving workshop for women in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on June 21st, 2018. Saudi Arabia will allow women to drive from June 24th, ending the world’s only ban on female motorists, a historic reform marred by what rights groups call an expanding crackdown on activists.

(Photo: Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images)

A Saudi woman uses an electronic driving simulator during a go-cart driving workshop for women in Riyadh on June 21st, 2018.
A Saudi woman uses an electronic driving simulator during a go-cart driving workshop for women in Riyadh on June 21st, 2018.

(Photo: Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images)

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