While some countries are thinking about granting same-sex couples the right to marry and others have already done it, Saudi women aren't even allowed to drive a car without permission of a male guardian who also needs to be present in the car.
The country is known for its overly-conservative laws and the lack of what the rest of the world would call "basic rights" for women. It seems odd that such regulations are still in place in this day and age, but that's what happens in a country where religion is just as important as the state law, even not even more so.
It's easy to judge, but we shouldn't be too quick to forget that it wasn't that long ago that women weren't allowed to vote in the U.S., for example. They had to fight and protest to gain it, which is what Saudi women have done as well - some of them ending up in jail for their audacity.
Now, King Salman issued a royal decree that grants all women the right to get a driver's license starting June 2018. The resolution isn't without its opponents, of course, many Saudis thinking it's inappropriate because it would force unwanted contact between males and unrelated females, something the religious laws prohibit vehemently.
Another issue raised by this historic decision has to do with how the police officers are going to interact with unattended women drivers, a situation that could not have happened before. The government is preparing special training sessions for the law enforcers to handle these newly created situations.
Up to this point, a woman driving a car on her own was considered an act of defiance, and she would have been arrested, prosecuted and sent to jail (with a charge as ridiculous as "driving while female"). And that's in a country that has limited public transport and cities designed for personal cars rather than pedestrian use, so you can imagine the frustration built up over the years.
As it so often happens with change, most of those who opposed the decree were of older age, while the younger part of the population welcomed the news. Those who won't be so happy are the current male drivers hired to ferry the women around whose service will not be needed come July 2018. But that's a small price to pay, I think we can all agree.
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