A coworker of Vanessa's told me recently that new developments in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) are built with separate parking lots for the ladies, even though they're not yet permitted to drive. According to this same person, KSA is very close to giving women, I mean womyn, the right to drive-- there's just one potentate who objects, so they're currently deadlocked on this issue.
I don't know how accurate that is, as I've never been there and I don't particularly want to go. While there are things that are objectionable about the UAE from a freedom loving, or even just freedom fry munching perspective, this country is much more tolerant than it typically receives credit for. Women drive, hold important positions in government, and are not forced to cover up, at least not by Johnny, nay, Abdul Law. Walk around Dubai or Abu Dhabi, and you will see women from all different cultures wearing all different styles of dress. There are prohibitions on certain types of revealing clothing, but in Dubai, for better or worse, those rules go largely unheeded.
Recently women in KSA have threatened to nurse their hired drivers because, according to religious guidelines, this nullifies the taboo of the two genders mixing outside family bonds. When someone dines on your breast milk, they are rendered family. You've heard of common law marriage, well this is common law adoption only, there's no 18 year expiration date on the "baby."
I'm not sure if the ladies of KSA will go through with it, but I have to wonder, do the drivers have any say in the matter?
