Driving Miss Saudi

In Saudi Arabia women are back seat drivers, literally. It a country most Americans consider more westernized than some of its neighbors, it's illegal for women to drive. Women can buy cars, but they can't drive them. In response to the growing consumer power of the veiled sex wealthy enough to purchase vehicles, and hire a chauffeur, one entrepreneur has set up a ladies only car dealership. All the salespeople are women to avoid any awkward mixed gender interaction, and cars are viewed on large flat screen televisions.

The topic of female driving is a hot button issue in the kingdom, where some feel car ownership is one step closer to car actual driving. Which will then pave the road to female emancipation, and the decline of civilization. It's not just men who think women behind the wheel is a bad thing.

From the Associated Press Article by By Donna Abu-Nasr:

Ruqiya al-Duwaighry, in a letter to the opinion page of Al-Watan, wrote that driving "strips women of their femininity" and puts them in situations that might violate the ban on the sexes mixing.
Driving "may subject her to give up the veil or mix with strange men, such as workers at gas stations or security men at checkpoints," she wrote. "Women, by nature, cannot cope with such hard work."

Apparently, raising children is a piece of cake, but dealing with parking attendants is too much of a stress.

You can read the entire article here.