4.4 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 22 December 2021
⏱️ 10 minutes
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In 2011, cybersecurity expert Manal Al-Sharif helped found the Women2Drive movement. It was designed to force the Saudi Arabian government to overturn its ban on women driving cars - one of the many restrictions on women in the Kingdom. Inspired by the mood of the Arab Spring, Saudi women got behind the wheel and then posted videos of themselves all over social media. The movement attracted international attention and the ban on women drivers was eventually lifted in 2017. Manal Al-Sharif talks to Petra Zivic.
PHOTO: Manal Al Sharif in Dubai in 2013 (Getty Images)
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| 0:00.0 | Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless |
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| 0:21.0 | And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less |
| 0:24.9 | searching and a lot more auction listen on BBC sounds Hello and thank you for downloading the Witness History Podcast with me Petra Jievich. |
| 0:40.4 | Today I'm taking you back to 2011 when women in Saudi Arabia took social media by |
| 0:47.2 | storm by publishing videos of themselves driving. It was the start of a protest campaign against a ban on women drivers in the |
| 0:57.3 | kingdom. I've been speaking to Manal Sharif, one of the founders of Women's Drive. |
| 1:05.0 | In May 2011, Manalar Sharif and her friend Vageja Al-Hawider did something most women take for granted. |
| 1:16.0 | They got behind a wheel of a car. |
| 1:19.0 | In a video that went viral, Manal turned to the camera and pointed out that in Saudi Arabia |
| 1:29.4 | a woman could have a PhD and still not be allowed to drive. |
| 1:35.1 | Vajika, Manal's friend, was already a well-known activist, |
| 1:39.6 | and Manal can remember picking her up from her house. |
| 1:43.2 | Virjia was wearing a traditional Muslim dress, |
| 1:46.8 | but with a rebellious twist. |
| 1:48.8 | I remember she showed up in a pinker-baya, |
| 1:51.7 | and I was like, wow's really courageous you know inside |
| 1:55.2 | it's always black. The two women posted a video of Manel at the will on |
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