Saudi Arabia is lifting its eighteen year ban against women driving within the Kingdom. Government officials confirmed the breakthrough decision and plan to issue an announcement by the end of the year, the Telegraph reports.
The current ban, which was written into law in 1990, is applicable to all women in Saudi Arabia, regardless of their nationality, according to the BBC. The Telegraph describes the move to lift the ban as an attempt to stop women from pushing for further rights.
Though the issue has been debated for awhile in Saudi Arabia, last fall members from the Committee of Demanders of Women”s Right to Drive Cars lobbied the government for the first time to have the ban lifted, the BBC reports.
Recently protesters defied the ban by driving through the country despite the threat of imprisonment and job loss.
