Bergen: Saudi Women Driving a Sign Bigger Change Is Coming

Peter Bergen wrote for CNN, putting Saudi Arabia's decision to let women drive in the context of broader changes in Saudi society:

Saudi Arabia announced Tuesday that women will finally be allowed to drive, starting in June of next year.

It's hard to underestimate the symbolic power of this royal decree. The issue of women driving has long been a cultural litmus test in Saudi Arabia, which is among the most religiously conservative Islamic countries in the world. Allowing women to drive has divided its conservative religious establishment, which controls pretty much every aspect of Saudi society, from more liberal Saudi elites, including a good chunk of the vast royal family.

Women driving themselves aren't just symbolic -- they're also part of a larger social transformation going on in Saudi society that is arguably the most important in almost half a century. Mina Al-Oraibi, the editor in chief of The National, a leading English language newspaper in the Middle East, explains, "This decision tips the balance for Saudi women and there is no going back. Of course, other issues remain, but this was the most evident and impacted everyday life for all women, from mothers wanting to take their kids to school, to women considering entering the workforce."