How Self-Driving Cars Could Pave the Way for Saudi Women’s Autonomy
In many respects, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia leans ahead of the curve. Though not known for being socially progressive, the country is making headlines for its boom in technology. With 8 million Facebook users and one of the fastest expanding Twitter markets in the world, Saudis are very well-connected. They have the money to incorporate and capitalize on tech, too. This month, the country launched a $100 billion fund for global investment in technology.
But technology may be the nation’s sole area of progressivism. Despite being on the forefront of technology for social interaction and education, it’s woefully behind on social issues. In fact, according to Human Rights Watch, it’s a country known for human rights violations. For abuses of women, it’s among the worst. The law prohibits women from activities most people take for granted. Among them is driving.
Many in the technological field are hoping that self-driving cars will allow freedom and autonomy Saudi women have never before experienced. As the nation seems eager to embrace automated transportation, it may be an opening for women on the road — even if they aren’t behind the wheel.
The Poor Are Hit Hardest
For us, it seems ridiculous. From mothers driving kids to soccer practice to women getting to and from work, life without women driving would be a challenge for the entire culture. But for poor women in Saudi Arabia, it’s more than a challenge. It can mean the difference between living on the brink of starvation and being able to feed their family.
In Saudi culture, husbands provide for the women and children in their family. Women are perpetual “minors,” requiring male guardians for life. If a woman is without a husband, she is left to depend on fathers, brothers or uncles for help surviving. Without the ability to drive a car to get to a job, women without males in the household are left in a terrible position.
Of course, this is a best case situation, where the men in the family are willing to help. If a woman doesn’t have protection or if the man who “protects” her is abusive, her situation could be deadly. In certain remote areas of the country, it will almost certainly be.
The Innovation of Driverless Cars
For this culture, where technology moves faster than social progress, driverless cars may hold an answer. As a loophole to the ban on women drivers, vehicles without drivers may mean freedom for women amid government restrictions. Wealthy families — families where physical needs are met — won’t see much of a change. If driverless cars were to be grandfathered into the system, it would be similar to taking taxis, hiring drivers or using Uber – privileges that women from financially stable situations expect.
For the vast majority of women in Saudi Arabia, luxuries like taxis and drivers are cost-prohibitive. Most women who can afford to engage them are doing so at a high price. To employ a male driver to get a woman to and from work can cost her up to 20% of what she earns.
Some are concerned about the perceived ethics of automated cars. And for a country that struggles with a complex moral code — a code much of the world finds antiquated and cruel — driverless cars may add one more layer to this concern. Already, men can digitally track when women under their “charge” leave the country. With technology already leveraged against them, will automated cars simply be another way for women to be surveilled?
Hope for the Best and Encourage Technology
There are many who doubt that automated cars will make a difference, but they do offer some possibility of hope. If wealthy families push for driverless cars to be a means of travel for Saudi women, poorer women may eventually reap the benefits as well. While it is by no means an answer to the repressive conditions for women in this area of the world, a step in a more technologically progressive direction may make the country more open to social change.
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Holly Whitman is a freelance politics writer and journalist, originally from London but now residing in Washington DC. She writes on anything and everything from women’s rights, presidential elections, international humanitarian issues to climate change and technology. Her work has been featured on Feministing, Yahoo Finance and Politicus. You can find more of Holly’s writing at Only Slightly Biased and connect with her on Twitter at @hollykwhitman.
