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| Saudi Arabia remains one of the only countries in the world to prevent women from driving |
A report in
Saudi Arabia has warned that if Saudi women were given the right to drive, it
would spell the end of virginity in the country.
The report
was prepared for Saudi Arabia's legislative assembly, the Shura Council, by a
well-known conservative academic.
Though
there is no formal ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia, if they get behind the
wheel, they can be arrested.
Saudi women
have mounted several campaigns to try to overturn the ban.
Aside from
the practical difficulties it creates, they say it is also illogical as in
trying to keep them under family control and away from men, it actually puts
them in daily contact with a male driver.
The issue
has received huge international attention.
Some Saudi
women feel it has attracted too much interest, obscuring other equally
important issues.
As part of
his careful reform process, King Abdullah has allowed suggestions to surface
that the ban might be reviewed.
This has
angered the conservative religious elite - a key power base for any Saudi
ruler.
Now, one of
their number - well-known academic Kamal Subhi - has presented a new report to
the country's legislative assembly, the Shura.
The aim was
to get it to drop plans to reconsider the ban.
The report
contains graphic warnings that letting women drive would increase prostitution,
pornography, homosexuality and divorce.
A Saudi
woman who has campaigned for women drivers told the BBC that the report was
completely mad.
She said
the head of the Shura had assured women campaigners that he was still open to
hearing the case for lifting the ban.
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