Women have flocked to Le Mall in Jeddah to check out the kingdom’s first car exhibition aimed at women, a few months after Saudi Arabia granted them the right to drive.
In a decree issued in September, King Salman ordered an end to the ban on women drivers by June. The ban has limited women’s mobility and was been seen by rights activists as an emblem of their suppression.
Saudi Arabia was the only country that bans women drivers. The landmark royal decree has been hailed as proof of a new progressive trend in the deeply conservative Muslim kingdom.
Many young Saudis regard the recent ascent to power of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as proof their generation is taking a central place in running a country whose patriarchal traditions have for decades made power the province of the old and blocked women’s progress.
ProfileWho is Prince Mohammed bin Salman?
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Background
Prince Mohammed, 32, is the Saudi crown prince and defence minister. He was named as heir to the throne in a June reshuffle by his father, King Salman, that sidelined his older cousin, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef.
Ascent
Prince Mohammed’s profile and powers have soared in recent years under the tutelage of his father, who has given him an almost free hand across most aspects of society. He has consolidated more influence than anyone else in the kingdom, spearheading plans for the privatisation of the state oil company, Aramco, taking charge of the war in Yemen, and leading the way in the move to blockade and isolate Qatar.
Reforms and purge
Since his appointment as crown prince, Prince Mohammed has launched a dizzying series of reforms dubbed Vision 2030, designed to transform the kingdom’s moribund economy and put the relationship between the state and its citizens on a new footing, underpinned by a pledge to “return Saudi Arabia to moderate Islam". On 4 November he led an astonishing corruption purge in which 11 senior princes, one of the country’s richest men and scores of former ministers were arrested. Critics say the purge and his headlong rush to revolutionise is driven by a push for unprecedented power.
“I’ve always been interested in cars, but we didn’t have the ability to drive,” said Ghada al-Ali on Thursday. “And now I’m very interested in buying a car but I would like the payments and prices to not be very high.”
Saudi Arabia’s cost of living has risen after the government hiked domestic gas prices and introduced value-added tax (VAT) in January.
The exhibition focused on fuel-efficient cars and provided a team of saleswomen to help their new customer base. The showroom carried signs emblazoned with the slogan “Drive and Shop”, a play on words in Arabic, using the female form of the verbs.
“It is known that women are the largest section who shop in malls,” said Sharifa Mohammad, who heads the exhibition’s saleswomen. “This whole mall is run by women anyway. All the cashiers are women. Everyone in the restaurants are women.”