Nobel Women's Initiative

Yesterday Saudi News reported that a Saudi woman is to be tried for driving in what she says was a medical emergency. Police arrested the unnamed 35 year old woman in the city of Jeddah. She was later released with the help of her father who acted as her male guarantor. 

The woman says she was suffering from a hemorrhage and took to the wheel in the absence of public transportation or driver to the hospital. On the same day of her arrest a letter was received by Saudi Women for Driving – an international group seeking to generate international support for Saudi women's right to drive – from a top EU official. In the letter European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton publicly called on Saudi Arabia to implement and fully ratify the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). 

Saudi activist Manal Al-Sharif drew global attention to the driving ban after her arrest in June for posting a youtube video of her driving. Since then, Saudi women have launched the Women2Drive campaign to overturn the ban and ensure equal rights to drive. 

 TAKE ACTION 

 Help spread the word and your endorsement by tweeting with the hashtag #Women2Drive 

Support the Women2Drive campaign on Facebook 

LEARN MORE