UNS Report
In 1990, women driving in Saudi Arabia was a highly sensitive issue. Yet Dr Aisha Al-Mana decided to experience it for herself.
The story began during the Gulf War. Al-Mana was travelling in the back seat of a car driven by her chauffeur on the Khobar–Riyadh road when she saw convoys of US military vehicles, including some driven by American servicewomen.
Having learnt to drive while living abroad, Al-Mana asked her chauffeur to give up the driver’s seat. She took the wheel and drove the car herself along the road between Khobar and Riyadh.
Al-Mana later said the experience prompted her to think more deeply about the issue of women driving in Saudi Arabia. But her experience did not end there.
On 6 November 1990, dozens of Saudi women gathered in Riyadh in a collective action calling for women to be allowed to drive. According to a book documenting the event, 47 women took part in 14 cars, with Al-Mana among them.
The women met in a car park on King Abdulaziz Street before driving through the streets of Riyadh. The protest would later become an important moment in the history of the campaign for women’s driving rights in Saudi Arabia.
After decades of social and legal debate, Saudi Arabia changed its policy. Women were officially permitted to drive from June 2018, marking a major change in the country’s approach to women’s mobility.
Keywords: Aisha Al-Mana, Saudi Arabia, women driving in Saudi Arabia, 1990 Saudi women’s driving protest, Gulf War, Riyadh, Khobar, Saudi women’s rights, women drivers, American female soldiers, Saudi history, 6 November 1990, women’s driving rights, Saudi reforms.
