News
The First Saudi Women Receive Their Driver’s Licenses

The First Saudi Women Receive Their Driver’s Licenses


Saudi Arabia’s General Department of Traffic has issued the first driver’s licenses to ten women yesterday, which comes after a royal decree announced that women in Saudi Arabia will be allowed to drive in September 2017.

Women will be allowed to start driving in Saudi Arabia in three weeks time, and an official statement was released saying that the ten women who were issued a license already held international license. Before receiving their licenses, the women took a short driving test and eye exam, before being issued their license at the General Department of Traffic in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital.

Women will be allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia on June 24th, and five universities across Saudi Arabia are launching driving schools for women. The long ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia was lifted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who wants to increase the number of females in the workforce from the current 22 percent, to 33 percent by 2030.