\u201cOh my God,\u201d the architecture student replied.
\nShe climbed into the driver\u2019s seat, put on her seatbelt, found the pedals, released
\nthe hand brake and put the car into drive. Then she took a deep breath, eased her
\nfoot off the brake and began doing, for the first time, what women will soon be doing
\nall over Saudi Arabia: driving.
\n\u201cIs this O.K.?\u201d the student, Rahaf Alzahrani, 21, asked nervously as she inched
\nalong.
\n\u201cYes. It\u2019s O.K.,\u201d the instructor said.
\nThree and a half months remain before the date when the rulers of this
\nultraconservative kingdom have promised to lift the longstanding ban on women
\ndriving, and many here are already planning for what is sure to be a major change in
\nSaudi society.
\nWomen\u2019s universities have announced that they plan to open driving schools,
\nand car companies have shifted their ads, seeking to profit from the anticipated flood
\nof new drivers \u2014 and car buyers \u2014 in this country of 32 million.<\/p>\n
Uber is planning to recruit women to train women who aspire to be Uber drivers,
\nand some dealerships have already set aside shopping hours for women. Ford,
\nNissan, Jaguar and even Coca-Cola have sought to capitalize on the buzz around
\nwomen sliding into the driver\u2019s seat.
\nSaudi women are approaching the change with an often complicated mix of
\nenthusiasm and apprehension, as was tangible on Monday on the campus of Effat
\nUniversity in this Red Sea port city, where a number of young women piloted cars for
\nthe first time.
\nThe university may later open a driving school for women, administrators said,
\nbut it is waiting for the government to issue the proper regulations. So the course
\nwas a more of a workshop offered by the Ford Motor Company Fund that sought to
\nimprove drivers\u2019 safety. Since Saudi Arabia does not yet issue licenses to women, the
\ncourse was aimed at women who had no experience being in charge of cars.
\nAbout 15 female students gathered in a classroom for the start of one workshop.
\nThey all wore abayas, the baggy gowns Saudi women wear to hide their forms in
\npublic. Most had their hair covered and a few covered their faces, too. Some wore
\ntennis shoes and jeans underneath and lugged backpacks and handbags.
\nThe workshop began with a brief talk about road safety, car accidents and the
\nhuge number of them caused by texting at the wheel. Then the women broke up for
\nmore hands-on experiences.
\nIn an outdoor courtyard, they donned goggles meant to simulate impaired vision
\nfrom medication, drowsiness or drunkenness, which is not usually a problem, since
\nalcohol is banned in the kingdom. Then they had to pilot a small wheel on the end of
\na pole across a map on the ground while paying attention to streets, stop signs and
\npedestrians.
\nBut the real action was in an enclosed parking lot nearby, where there were real
\ncars.
\nGroups of women sat in the cars while instructors explained their features: the
\ngear shift, the gas and brake pedals, the temperature gauge, the cruise-control.<\/p>\n
buttons, the turn signals and windshield wipers. At one point, a student sitting in a
\ndriver\u2019s seat sprayed the windshield, making all of the other women laugh.
\nFinally, the instructor told the woman to put her foot on the brake and push the
\nignition button. The car roared to life and a smile bloomed on her face.
\n\u201cAll right!\u201d she said, and the other women clapped.
\nIt is hard to overstate how much the right to drive will change the lives of Saudi
\nwomen. Women were long kept out of public life in Saudi Arabia, segregated from
\nmen in most settings, limited to a small number of professions or encouraged to stay
\nhome, and forced to rely on private drivers or male relatives to pilot them around.
\nBut much has changed for Saudi women in recent years as they have been
\nallowed to work in new fields and appointed to high-profile positions, and have
\ngraduated in ever-increasing numbers from universities. Crown Prince Mohammed
\nbin Salman, the kingdom\u2019s de facto ruler, has spoken of the importance of increasing
\nwomen\u2019s role in the work force as part of his effort to diversify the economy away
\nfrom oil.
\nThe women at the workshop all approved of having the right to drive, and some had
\nalready set their sights on specific cars. One wanted an Audi.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a strong car,\u201d she said.
\nAnother wanted a Mercedes, \u201clike my dad.\u201d
\nYet another said she would send her Indian driver home and drive his car.
\nThey said being able to drive would decrease their reliance on those who now
\nhave to ferry them around, while putting them in charge of their own schedules.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t want to drive just to drive,\u201d said Rehab Alhuwaider, 21. \u201cI want to be
\nable to do my daily routine.\u201d
\nShe said she hated it when she wanted to go to the gym in the morning and had
\nto wait for someone to drop her off. The best part of driving, she said, would be
\n\u201cfeeling more freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n
But some were not sure they were ready to face Saudi Arabia\u2019s often ferocious traffic,
\nor male drivers who have no experience interacting with women on the roads.
\nRaneem Modaress, 22, said she had wanted to drive before a car she was riding
\nin got hit a month ago, leaving her with bad bruises up and down her side.
\n\u201cIt was terrible,\u201d she said.
\nNow she plans to wait to see how it goes for other women before getting her own
\nlicense.
\nThe workshop concluded with what remains a rare opportunity for women in
\nSaudi Arabia: the chance to drive a car through a course of cones in a parking lot.
\nBefore she got her shot behind the wheel, Ms. Alzahrani, the architecture
\nstudent, said she had driven Jet Skis in the Red Sea and motorcycles in the desert,
\nbut never cars. The thought of doing so made her nervous.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know where the brake is and where the gas is,\u201d she said.
\nShe started slowly, then rounded the first curve, then the second. She
\napproached a stop sign and hit the brake too hard, causing the other passengers to
\njolt forward. She laughed nervously and then went forward again before reaching the
\nend and stopping with a slightly lighter jolt.
\n\u201cPraise God for your safety,\u201d the instructor said.
\n\u201cYay me!\u201d she said.
\nThe drive had taken only a few minutes, but it had changed her outlook on the
\nwhole endeavor.
\n\u201cIt was so amazing. I loved it,\u201d she said. \u201cIt felt good to be behind the wheel.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cOh my God,\u201d the architecture student replied. She climbed into the driver\u2019s seat, put on her seatbelt, found the pedals, released the hand brake and put the car into drive. Then she took a deep breath, eased her foot off the brake and began doing, for the first time, what women will soon be doing all over Saudi Arabia: driving…. Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1492,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491\/revisions\/1492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}