رد: ياشباب وشابات المستوى الثالث واي شخص لديه روح التعاون
يعطيك العافيه ذكريااات
وهذا موضوع عن سواقة المرأة للامانــــه ايضا منقول
Women Driving in Saudi Arabia? Why Not?
Readers who do not know Saudi Arabia well couldn't understand or
appreciate the reasoning against women driving. Saudis and residents
who are familiar with the issue cite logistical and practical
problems and concerns. No one claims the ban is Islamic. In
Prophet's (peace be upon him) time, women rode their horses and
camels. In other Islamic countries, women didn't have to compromise
their modest dress code to drive. And they drive as well as men, if
not better and safer.
Many readers fear that men, especially the young, will harass or
chase female drivers.
This is blaming the victim. If men are the guilty party, then let's
ban them.
Some suspect that if we allow women driving, it will make it much
easier for dating. They say it is bad as it is. Girls pretending to
be out for school and social events go for dates! Give them cars and
see what happens!
I say if they decide to date they will find a way. If you don't
trust your kids, boys or girls, don't give them cars. But if you
brought them up well, trust them. Besides, why do we assume girls
would be less observant and conservative than boys? If both are as
much suspect, then nobody should be allowed to drive. What
difference does it make who sits on the driving seat?
Other arguments focus on practicalities, like traffic jams,
accidents, car breakdowns, driving in remote areas, etc.
I say, we should plan and prepare. We could go gradually, allowing
women over thirty to drive first, and then schedule other age
groups. If they get in trouble they could use their cell phones.
Mobile car service operators would help in case of breakdowns. We
must take extra security measures and harsher punishment for
harassers, like publishing offenders' names and photos in the
papers. They did that in Dubai and it worked.
We have to start by educating the public with media campaigns and
encourage preachers, teachers and parents to contribute and
participate. Solutions are there if we just look for them. As the
Americans say, if there is a will, there is a way.
I like the following e-mail message I received from a Western
teacher in a girls school. It very much sums up the problem from
women's perspective. It says:
I am a female teacher here in the Kingdom and I teach Saudi girls
English. I was pleasantly surprised at the caliber of females I have
come in contact with. I listen to their frustrations on a daily
basis of the restrictions (mainly of not being able to drive) placed
on them. The majority are perfectly capable human beings who just
need their country to stop underestimating them and their abilities
and the possibilities are limitless to what they will be able to
offer this society.
Of course I can also understand the hesitation in allowing women to
drive but I would place the fault of this completely on the men of
this country. I could just imagine a car full of teenage Saudi boys
hitting a woman's car just for flirting purposes and this would make
me personally more apprehensive about driving in this country. The
problems are structural and deep-rooted. You can't just lift the
ban, but on the other hand, the longer you wait the harder it will
get to change it.
A suggestion would be to fill the streets with competent, well-
trained and prepared police, and have them clean up the act on the
streets here. Maybe after a few months of over ticketing and tight
restrictions you may have a situation where women will feel
comfortable driving. You will also have to have driving schools for
women and then, maybe, the country can conceptualize driving for
women.
Another thing that needs to change is the attitude some men have
toward women in this country. If the laws are there to make women
feel more comfortable when in public then they are retroactive.
This can only change when men begin to see women as having a more
independent role in society, for example, by driving. But women
can't drive until this attitude is curbed. What comes first, the
chicken or the egg? It's quite the dilemma. All I can say is the
situation needs to change so better to start now and deal with the
problems head on, rather than just watch things become more
difficult to unravel. Bite the bullet, as we would say
سرو ...
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