Cars have been around longer than Saudi Arabia, but women in the 87-year-old kingdom have never been allowed to drive them. That is finally set to change, the country indicated Tuesday. Its official Saudi Press Agency published a Supreme Order from the king saying the country will allow driver’s licenses to be issued to “both males and females” beginning in June 2018. A high-level committee is now being set up to oversee the rollout of the new policy.
Home to the birthplace of Islam and two of the religion’s holiest sites—Mecca and Medina—Saudi Arabia operates as an ultraconservative, Sharia Law–based monarchy. It’s currently the only country in the world that prohibits its female citizens from getting behind the wheel of a car or truck. In recent decades, some Saudi Arabian women have challenged the ban and were issued traffic tickets or even jailed as a result.
Issuing driver’s licenses to women is part of Saudi Arabia’s broader efforts to modernize the country. Women are still not allowed to marry or travel abroad without permission from a male “guardian,” such as a husband, father, or other close male family member, according to the nonprofit Human Rights Watch.
But in April, the country’s 32-year-old Prince Mohammed Bin Salman implied some reform could be afoot. “We believe women have rights in Islam that they’ve yet to obtain,” he said in an interview, according to Bloomberg. “Changes could happen in the future, and we always hope they will be positive changes.”
Saudi Arabia has been a close ally of the United States. It is America’s largest customer for arms and weapons, and it was Donald Trump’s first stop in his inaugural trip abroad as president.
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