A psychologist of proven Muslim faith, member and judicial consultant of a Saudi association of psychologists, the Gulf Psychological Association, said in an interview on the sabq.org website that women who drive risk compromising their fertility with serious damage to the ovaries, as well as to give birth to children suffering from various pathologies. In the days immediately preceding the publication of the interview, groups of activists scattered throughout the country had launched a campaign inviting women to get behind the wheel for a day of protest on October 26, thus challenging the ban on Saudi women driving any type of of motor vehicle.
In reality, this prohibition has no basis in a law, but in fact licenses are issued only to male individuals. Some reforms in favor of women (right to vote and to stand as candidates in municipal elections - but only starting from 2015 -, wider access to the world of work) have entered into force in Saudi Arabia in recent years at the behest of King Abdullah , but nothing has yet been decided on the possibility for Saudi nationals to obtain a driving licence. Speaking on behalf of those who oppose a more active presence of women in society, Sheikh Saleh bin Saad al-Lohaidan, the conservative psychologist who gave the interview, said that "women who claim to drive should put reason in front of their emotions and passions” since “using the machine habitually can have a negative effect on the female psyche and on the functionality of the reproductive organs”. Two days after the interview, the site promoting the protest campaign was shut down across the country.
Attachments: The Reuters article
