The Keys to the Kingdom: Saudi Women Learn to Driv
Post# of 40989
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/05/world/midd...ivers.html
March 5, 2018
JIDDA, Saudi Arabia — “O.K. Come drive now,” said the trainer.
“Oh my God,” the architecture student replied.
She climbed into the driver’s seat, put on her seatbelt, found the pedals, released the hand brake and put the car into drive. Then she took a deep breath, eased her foot off the brake and began doing, for the first time, what women will soon be doing all over Saudi Arabia: driving.
“Is this O.K.?” the student, Rahaf Alzahrani, 21, asked nervously as she inched along.
“Yes. It’s O.K.,” the instructor said.
Three and a half months remain before the date when the rulers of this ultraconservative kingdom have promised to lift the longstanding ban on women driving, and many here are already planning for what is sure to be a major change in Saudi society....
Uber is planning to recruit women to train women who aspire to be Uber drivers, and some dealerships have already set aside shopping hours for women. Ford, Nissan, Jaguar and even Coca-Cola have sought to capitalize on the buzz around women sliding into the driver’s seat.
$ONCI / HEXA$