As of yesterday, women are legally allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia for the first time. It's an important symbolic milestone, but hopes that the kingdom's ruling family is about to usher in an era of real equality are wildly premature.
The move to end the women’s driving ban was announced last September and is widely attributed to the influence of Mohamed bin Salman, the ambitious young crown prince, often known as MBS, who has positioned himself as a moderniser and a champion of economic and social reform. On his watch, cinemas have opened, the state has organised live music concerts and women have been allowed into a secluded family section in a sports stadium for the first time.
But such changes owe more to economic necessity and tactical considerations than they do to any belief in gender equality on the part of the royal family. Indeed, they could even obscure a tightening of political and social control under MBS. Given that relatively few women have been issued driving licences, and that many Saudi men opposed the policy change, it’s unclear how many women will actually be in a position to benefit from the right to drive. Indeed, in recent weeks, the authorities have arrested a number of high-profile feminist activists – perhaps as a signal of reassurance to conservatives unsettled by recent signs of tentative liberalisation.
MBS has staked his reputation on the success of Vision 2030, a sprawling plan aimed at weaning Saudi Arabia off its oil-dependence and diversifying the economy. One goal is to increase women’s participation in the workforce from 22 per cent to 30 per cent within just over a decade, so allowing women to drive to work has a clear economic rationale. Yet if the monarchy was serious about equality, it would dismantle the male guardianship system that legally places every Saudi woman under the authority of a male relative. The kingdom’s rulers are happy to turn women into workers and consumers, in other words, but to date it has shown no inclination to adjust a social structure that makes women second-class citizens.