Photos: Saudi women hit the roads as driving ban is lifted

Women in Saudi Arabia were able to take to the roads at midnight on Sunday, ending the world’s last ban on female drivers, long seen as an emblem of women’s repression in the deeply conservative Muslim kingdom. The lifting of the ban, ordered last September by King Salman, is part of sweeping reforms pushed by his powerful young son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in a bid to transform the economy of the world’s top oil exporter and open up its cloistered society.

Updated on: Jun 24, 2018 4:54 PM IST

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Samira al-Ghamdi, a practicing psychologist drives to work with her son Abdulmalik, 26, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Saudi women steered their cars through busy streets for the first time on Sunday after the world’s last remaining ban on women driving was lifted. (Zohra Bensemra / REUTERS)

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34-year old Asmaa al-Assdmi poses for a photograph as she holds her driving license at the Saudi Driving School inside Princess Nora University in Saudi Arabia. It’s a historic moment for women who have had to rely on their husbands, fathers, brothers and drivers to run basic errands, get to work, visit friends or even drop kids off at school. The ban had relegated women to the backseat, restricting when and how they move around. (Nariman El-Mofty / AP)

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Hannan Iskandar drives her car in her neighborhood, in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. For nearly three decades, outspoken Saudi women and the men who supported them had called for women to have the right to drive. They faced arrest for defying the ban even as women in other conservative Muslim countries drove freely. (Hamad I Mohammed / REUTERS)

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Majdooleen, who was among the first Saudi women allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia gets ready before she starts to drive her car. But after midnight Sunday, Saudi women finally joined women around the world in being able to get behind the wheel of a car as they hit the road in celebratory packs, whooping and ululating for joy. (Faisal Al Nasser / REUTERS)

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“I’m speechless. I’m so excited it’s actually happening,” said Hessah al-Ajaji (pictured), who drove her family’s Lexus down the capital’s busy Tahlia Street after midnight. Al-Ajaji had a U.S. driver’s license before obtaining a Saudi one and appeared comfortable at the wheel. (AP)

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A Saudi woman, Amira, who works in Aramco refuels her car as she makes her way to her office in Dammam. Ultraconservatives in Saudi Arabia had long warned that allowing women to drive would lead to sin and expose women to harassment. Ahead of allowing women to drive, the kingdom passed a law against sexual harassment with up to five years in prison for the most severe cases. (Hamad I Mohammed / REUTERS)

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A Saudi woman celebrates with her friends as she drives her car in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. The lifting of the ban, ordered last September by King Salman, is part of sweeping reforms pushed by his powerful young son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in a bid to transform the economy of the world’s top oil exporter and open up its cloistered society. (Hamad I Mohammed / REUTERS)

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Aseel Al-Hamad will make another breakthrough for Saudi Arabian women on Sunday by driving a Formula One car ahead of the French Grand Prix. Al-Hamad is already the first female member of the Saudi Arabian Motorsport Federation and on the Women in Motorsport Commission set up by Formula One’s governing body. (REUTERS)

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Hannan Iskandar is kissed by her parents after she drove her car in her neighborhood, in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. Not all women are driving at once, though. The overwhelming majority of women in Saudi Arabia still don’t have licenses. In many cases, women said they’ll wait before rushing to drive to see how the situation on the streets pans out and how male drivers react. (Hamad I Mohammed / REUTERS)