Catherine Ashton: Publicly Support Saudi Women's Right to Drive

How We Won

Jun 22, 2011

After Saudi women called on the EU's top diplomat Catherine Ashton to publicly support their right to drive, she ignored them. But after a massive campaign which succeeded in getting U.S. Secretary of State Clinton to give in, tonight Ashton publicly praised the Saudi women's campaign, calling them "courageous" and heaping a pile of pressure on the Saudi government to lift the ban on women driving: “The EU supports people who stand up for their right to equal treatment, wherever they are. The Saudi women who are taking to the road are exercising their right to demand that equality. They are courageous and have the High Representative's support.”

Ashton’s support concludes the latest in a long series of campaigns by Saudi Women for Driving, a coalition of leading Saudi women’s rights activists, bloggers and academics, pulled together after the arrest of Manal al-Sharif, a Saudi mother jailed for driving her car.

“To see a grassroots movement of Saudi women’s rights activists use our platform to successfully lobby the EU’s most powerful diplomat has been truly heartening,” said Change.org founder Ben Rattray. “Inspired by the Arab Spring, these women have launched the largest women’s rights protest movement in Saudi history, and recruited more than 100,000 supporters in more than 150 countries to their various campaigns. Change.org is about empowering anyone, anywhere to demand action on the issues that matter to them, and it is an honor to provide a platform for these Saudi women.”

More than 100,000 people in 156 countries have joined Saudi Women for Driving campaigns on Change.org. The latest campaign, launched today, calls on car manufacturer Subaru to pull out of Saudi Arabia until women are given the right to drive.

Dear High Representative Ashton

We are leading Saudi Women’s rights activists and we write this open letter - endorsed by citizens throughout the EU - to express our deep concern over the EU's public silence on the issue of Saudi women's right to drive.

Saudi Arabia is also the only country on earth where women are not allowed to drive, or even ride a bicycle, often dubbed ‘the world's largest women's prison’. As Saudi women our lack of freedom of movement places an extreme burden on our lives. We lack a public transportation system and the most basic errands and medical appointments are missed due to the difficulty and expenses of arranging transportation, notwithstanding educational and work opportunities. Many from our religious establishment openly state that the reason they prohibit women from driving is to keep women at home and in need of men. Our lack of this basic right to drive our own cars has been repeatedly exploited by abusive fathers, brothers, husbands and even hired drivers. Just this week a Saudi woman reported she was raped by her driver.
 
On May 22, 2011, a Saudi technology consultant and mother named Manal al-Sharif was arrested for driving her own car. Unable to find a safe and reliable driver, she was fed up and decided to take a stand not just for herself but for Saudi women across this country. Over the past few days, more than 50,000 people from 156 countries around the world have joined our campaigns calling for Manal to be released and acquitted of all charges. Manal's activism has also led to copycat incidents, with women all over the country posting videos of themselves driving. As momentum grows, we are calling for women across Saudi Arabia to begin driving openly and en masse on June 17. In the context of the Arab Spring and US commitments to support nonviolent movements for democracy, now is the time for EU leaders to show their support for Saudi women's rights.

We were encouraged to see media reports that EU diplomats have quietly pressured the Saudi government over women's rights issues... But given the recent arrests of women trying to drive, now is the time for the EU to show its muscle and make that pressure public.

We write to ask that you make a public statement supporting Saudi women's right to drive. We do not make this request lightly, but we believe that you making a public statement of support for Saudi Arabia opening the country's roads to women would be a game changing moment.

High Representative Ashton, you are a friend. Indeed, some of us have met you personally during your decades-long journey as a champion of women’s rights all over the world.  Now, as we build the largest Saudi women's protest movement in decades, we need your help.

God bless you.

Saudi Women for Driving (سعوديات يطالبن بالقيادة)

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