Manal AlShareef
I am really saddened by what is happening to Manal AlShareef as a result of her wanting to drive a car, which should not be an issue at all. What is saddening is she is alone in all of this, in 1991 when a few women went out, there was no social media and camera phones, it was all talk about so and so, and the story was (which I heard, no references here), with the gulf war and American troops in Saudi, American military women were seen driving on the roads, so Saudi women wanted to drive also as if the ban had been lifted, and if you ask most people (including me) I would not be able to name one of the women who drove on that day off the top of my head.
King Fahad Road in Riyadh By Thamer Al-Hassan
Now Manal, has been tuned into a hero and a villan, and everyone will use her name somehow to drive some point across.
The process of her being stopped by the police and then the Commission (Hai’a) showing up to handle the situation, and then detaining her only shows the unpreparedness of the current system (of traffic police) to handle a situation like this, and ask anyone who has been in an accident or was issued a traffic violation and they will tell you the negatives and the hassles of the current system.
I wish for Manal’s release, but I know now, as I said, she will be used as an example, by both sides to drive their points across… while they drive, she wont.
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May 24, 2011 @ 20:55:32
Actually, she has asked for everything that she is getting…right or wrong…this country and these people are not ready for this and not ready for this behavior especially from a woman. Come on, there are proper channels to go through, patience and don’t disobey the rulers. Look, I’m American and I think she’s crazy. I can imagine that even if it’s allowed, the first 2-3 years will be followed with a lot of violent acts against women. Who needs it? The traffic police can’t even control the men in this country and would probably gladly turn another cheek to any problem done to a woman by a male driver because most of the police are uneducated, low salaried workers who come from beduoin type mentalities. she has to understand all of these aspects and don’t push it or be prepared to take the heat!
Is there hope for Saudi Arabia? « Saudi Jeans
May 24, 2011 @ 21:50:45
[...] Qusay: Manal AlShareef [...]
May 25, 2011 @ 19:16:14
1. The issue of the way the Saudi authority handled the case Manal Alshareef has caused a bad publicity for Saudi Arabia. Her case shed light on the urgent needs to create and establish a clear system to govern and regulations all issues within our society. I am following the debate about her case which many distinguished lawyers cited that there is no clear law to outlaw women driving and there is no written law that says “women driving is an offense sentence by jail time”. I think the kingdom should tackle this issue once and for all, ether permit women to have their right to drive ( which I fully support ) or create a clear set of rules that bands women driving and state the penalties of breaching these laws.
May 29, 2011 @ 11:58:22
Saudi Arabia should follow and learn from the west.
Yeah, we need to make saudi arabia like Dubai, We need sluts, prostitutes, hookers, clubs and bars…. A good glass of vodka with russian girls in Riyadh would be the right way …..
Imagine saudi topless women sitting in deserts like in France or UK… We need nudist area inside saudi arabia.
Saudi Women rise up for your freedom. there is nothing wrong with walking topless, when the parliaments of UK, Canada and many european countries have approved it, you should fight for your rights……
Fight for your nightclubs, fight of rum,vodka, discotheques etc. etc..
Fight for womanizers like Jamal Khashoggi and make him Interior Minister…
March towards FREEDOM.
May 30, 2011 @ 01:25:35
Khaled–Canadian women have the right to go topless (or topfree as activists prefer) based on a single case of one woman who went topless once in an Ontario city. The case went to the provincial supreme court which made a legal ruling that the fact of a woman being topless was not in itself lewd behaviour or indecent exposure as defined in the federal law of the time.
This is something of a pyrrhic victory since no women in Ontario or elsewhere in the country do go about topless, except maybe on designated beaches. If they did and they were mentally competent it would make the news. If they did and seemed mentally compromised they would be escorted by police to the nearest psychiatric emergency room. In the years I have spent in psychiatric emergency rooms it has never happened. Even the manics (symptoms of which include hypersexuality and disinhibited behaviour) keep their tops on.
These realities buttress Qusay’s arguments in his post about culture vs law and minority vs majority. We don’t always do what we are legally allowed to do, we don’t all want the same rights, and the culture needs to be ready for something if a law is to be actualized societally.
If I remember correctly, in Canada we still have the right to tie our horses to the hitching post in front of the local dry goods store. No one does that either.
May 30, 2011 @ 01:51:45
PS I just discovered the same comment by you, verbatim, on another blog on a different topic. It tends to undermine your credibility as a commentator.
May 30, 2011 @ 20:48:03
Unfortunately, freedom to some is synonymous with hedonism + the oppression of women.
May 30, 2011 @ 01:27:43
Qusay-Great post, as have been your others on Saudi women driving.
De acuerdo! The response to Manal Al Shareef’s action is reprehensible, no matter what one thinks of Saudi women having the legal right to drive.
May 30, 2011 @ 20:48:23
thank you very much
Jun 15, 2011 @ 09:33:07
I think most Saudis now are prepared to welcome women on the street,but I don’t think that the cities traffic infrastructures are prepared to get few more cars on them, let alone hundreds of thousands popping up with theirs, haven’t anyone notice how long it takes for someone to commute 8 or 10 miles back and forth to work everyday,and parking is just a nightmare in many places,may this what worries the authorities and may be, just may a little of hand wrestling is involved too between the pros and cons.
And I don’t know why we as males consider ourselves as human beings and always expect our females to be angles, OK, I don’t about all men but I used think that way, I think aging is not very bad thing after all, It keeps making me a better man.
Jun 16, 2011 @ 17:47:38
Valid comments Majed, thanks and welcome to the blog
Shoura Council and Ten Lashes To Go with That | Qusay
Sep 27, 2011 @ 16:44:13
[...] of the cities), but that law has no defined penalty for breaking as far as I know… otherwise Manal Alshareef would’ve been slapped with one, and Maha Alqahtani would’ve been asked to pay more than the [...]