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Daring to Drive

A Saudi Woman’s Awakening

Manal al-Sharif

Simon & Schuster, 2017

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As a devout Saudi girl, Manal al-Sharif gladly adhered to the strictures of her culture. Her mother, who believed in education, guided al-Sharif to go to college and become a computer scientist. Sharing warm scenes of family life, the author also discusses ways she challenged traditional boundaries. Working for Aramco as the only woman in IT security, she found that a lone woman couldn’t rent an apartment. After a divorce and a year-long US exchange program, she joined a social media group calling for Saudi women to drive. When she drove, the government jailed her. As she recounts in this inspiring saga, other Saudi Arabian women also defied the ban, and they won the right to drive in 2018.

Summary

Manal al-Sharif thought she’d won a battle in Saudi women’s quest to drive, but the secret police were fighting a war.

The door-shaking knocks came at 2 a.m. Secret policemen kept banging on the door of Manal al-Sharif’s house until her brother answered. They said they wanted al-Sharif to come with them to Dhahran police station. The previous day, they had detained al-Sharif for five hours for “driving while female.” Though it wasn’t a crime, a woman driving defied Saudi Arabian custom.

After al-Sharif signed a paper attesting that she would never drive on Saudi land, she and her brother went home thinking they had won a small victory. Friends greeted them with the news that many people had seen her arrest on social media.

Then, the secret police came to al-Sharif’s home in the compound belonging to the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco), where she was the only woman working in the information security group. The compound was a Western oasis in the conservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The men at the door included an Aramco official who assured al-Sharif he would bring her back to her home...

About the Author

Women’s rights activist Manal al-Sharif became Saudi Arabia’s first woman computer security specialist and went to jail for driving a car while female.

Daring to Drive

A Saudi Woman’s Awakening

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Summary

Manal al-Sharif thought she’d won a battle in Saudi women’s quest to drive, but the secret police were fighting a war.

About the Author

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