In Saudi Arabian (where else?) a well-respected cleric (& amateur gynecologist) has said women who drive risk damaging their ovaries & may give birth to children with serious developmental & physical difficulties.
A web campaign calling for women to defy the Kingdoms, current legal ban on women driving that has organized a protest drive on 26th October has gone viral over the past week & won support from some prominent women activists. Yesterday access to the campaign’s website was blocked for those inside the Kingdom.
In an interview published before the weekend Sheikh Saleh bin Saad al-Lohaidan said women aiming to overturn the law on women driving should put “reason ahead of their hearts, emotions & passions”.
Saleh is a judicial adviser to an association of Gulf psychologists.
“If a woman drives a car, not out of pure necessity, that could have negative physiological impacts as functional & physiological medical studies show that it automatically affects the ovaries & pushes the pelvis upwards,” he said. “That is why we find those who regularly drive have children with clinical problems of varying degrees.”
He did not cite specific medical studies to support his arguments (probably an oversight).
The ban on women driving is not backed by a specific law, but only men are granted driving licenses. Women are usually fined for driving without a license but have also been detained & put on trial in the past.
Sheikh Abdulatif Al al-Sheikh, the head of the Saudi morality police, told reporters a few days ago that he was not aware of anything in the documents making up Sharia law, that barred women from driving.
King Abdullah has introduced some cautious reforms aimed at expanding women’s rights in Saudi Arabia, but he has not addressed the issue of driving.
ThursdayAgain 
You must be logged in to post a comment.