First female driving license being issued in Saudi Arabia

WATCH: First female driving license being issued in Saudi Arabia - Al Arabiya English

Women 18 years of age and older will be allowed to apply for a driver's license, Bassami said.

Driving schools for women have been set up across five cities in the kingdom, and teachers will include Saudi women who obtained their licenses abroad.

Women with foreign driving licenses will be able to apply for a local one through a separate process, which will also assess their driving skills.

Click to expand...

According to the article, Saudi Arabia is the last nation that had prohibited women from driving.

Some might say "it's about time" and leave it at that but, really, it's a pretty big deal and shows a significant step in the modernization of ideas in one of the nations that was a bastion of traditional Islamic beliefs.

Man, Saudi Arabia's moving forward, Ireland is moving forward, and yet here we are in America going backward. It's like we live in bizarro world or something.

Lutherf said:

WATCH: First female driving license being issued in Saudi Arabia - Al Arabiya English



According to the article, Saudi Arabia is the last nation that had prohibited women from driving.

Some might say "it's about time" and leave it at that but, really, it's a pretty big deal and shows a significant step in the modernization of ideas in one of the nations that was a bastion of traditional Islamic beliefs.

Click to expand...

It's funny how the story didn't even name the happy recipient.
Of course, it's entirely possible that the woman, or her family, chose to remain anonymous, too.
So it might be that my "Western" sensibilities are running in the wrong direction.
If this had happened in the West, the lady would most likely be named and would go down in history as a notable figure.
Most people know the names of the first female pilots, doctors, etc.
The first woman in the USA to get a driver's license was Mrs. John S. Landon of Elkhart, Indiana, in 1900.
She was easy to find because she was a notable figure.

However I wager that everyone in Saudi will know the name of the first woman driver to have a motor vehicle accident.

One positive story followed by two comments which find something negative to say. I swear, some people would complain about getting free ice cream because the only flavor served was vanilla.