Samar Badawi

Despite the short nature of this post, it is by no means a reflection on the size of the issue that I am about to talk about.  In Saudi Arabia it is illegal for women to drive.  Over the last 12 months the awareness of women's illegality to drive in the Kingdom has become a matter of heightened awareness in the western world and it has regularly received media attention.

It may seem obvious that with some enlightenment the King could simply make it legal for women to drive however the way in which Saudi society is constructed prevents this.  Why?  For exmaple, let's say a woman has a car accident and requires medical attention, the paramedic that arrives at the scene is not allowed to touch the woman.  This is made even more problematic because of the lack of access to education for woman preventing women from becoming paramedic's themselves and able to attend to female drivers.  So while it may seem simple on the outside, it is far more complex and unless systemic oppression of women is removed from Saudi society, it will continue to function this way.

There is an amazing Saudi Arabian woman who has been tirelessly campaigning for women's rights in the Kingdom.  Her name is Samar Badawi and she received an International Woman of Courage Award on International Women's Day for efforts in a country where tolerance for questioning your human rights is limited. Samar is the type of woman who will change the experiences of this world for an entire society, for the better.

Unfortunately I can't locate the YouTube video of Samar receiving her award, however HERE is the link to the video.  You can also see the Facebook group for "Teach me how to drive so I can protect myself" HERE so you can follow this campaign.

* I would like to give special thanks to my friend Donna who lives in the United Arab Emirates and enlightened me about the complexity of simply allowing women to drive in Saudi Arabia.
** I just realised that this wasn't short as I expected in the beginning but I did write it quickly, so my apologies for any grammatical errors!