The Shura Council’s recommendations are not mandatory, but simply making the recommendation was a major step after years of the kingdom staunchly rejecting any review of the ban.
There have been small but increasingly bold protests by women who took to their cars during the past year. The unique driving ban is imposed because the kingdom’s ultraconservative Muslim clerics say “licentiousness” will spread if women drive.
The council member said the Shura Council made the recommendations in a secret, closed session in the past month. The member spoke on condition of anonymity.
Under the recommendations, only women older than 30 would be allowed to drive and they would need permission from a male relative — usually a husband or father, but lacking those, a brother or son. They would be allowed to drive from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday through Wednesday and noon to 8 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, the weekend in the kingdom.
The conditions also require that a woman driver wear conservative dress and no makeup, the official said. Within cities, they can drive without a male relative in the car, but outside of cities, a male’s presence is required.
The council said a “female traffic department” would have to be created to deal with female drivers if their cars broke down or they encountered other problems, and to issue fines. It recommended the female traffic officers be under the supervision of the “religious agencies.”
The council placed heavy restrictions on interactions between female drivers and male traffic officers or other male drivers, and stiff penalties for those who break them. Merely speaking to a female driver, the council said, was punishable by a one-month prison sentence and a fine.
The 150-member Shura Council is appointed by the king, drawing on various sectors of society to act as the closest thing to a parliament in the kingdom, though it has no legislative powers. King Abdullah appointed women to it for the first time, and now there are 30 female members.
The driving ban has long forced families to hire live-in drivers for women. Women who can’t afford the $300 to $400 a month for a driver must rely on male relatives to drive them to work, school, shopping or the doctor.
Female activists launched their latest campaign to defy the driving ban Oct. 26, when dozens of women drove around their neighborhoods and posted on social-networking sites video clips of themselves driving.
