IWD 2018: Saudi women gear up as D-day nears

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Saudi Arabia is just three months away from seeing women being allowed to drive legally. The kingdom's women and carmakers have already started gearing up for the historic occasion.

Universities are conducting driving lessons for women who would like to apply for driving license, which is mandatory for owning a car.

Car companies, meanwhile, are engaging with the women to understand their needs from a vehicle as they foresee a boost to their sales with a new category of drivers taking the streets soon. They are also creating new ads to target their new customers.

Ridesharing company Uber has announced it will recruit women to train women who may wish to join its fleet of drivers.

'I want to drive a car, want to be independent'

A Saudi woman sits in a car during a driving training at a university in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, March 7, 2018. /Reuters Photo

Saudi women, meanwhile, are taking one step at a time. Having welcomed the Saudi king’s landmark decision last year revoking a driving ban on women, they are now taking a systematic approach about getting a license first.

Scores of young Saudi women took advantage of a training program at the all-women Effat University in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah this week, where they learnt the basics of how to operate a car.

Other women-only universities across the desert kingdom also plan to offer full driving courses after the government announces the rules and guidelines.

The lifting on the ban will come into effect from June this year.

"Ever since they (Saudi authorities) announced it officially, that we're going to drive soon and have driving schools and licenses and all that stuff, I think everyone got so excited about it," an AP report quoted Joanna al-Fattani as saying.

A Saudi woman leaves a car during a driving training at a university in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, March 7, 2018. /Reuters Photo

"It's such an empowering step towards empowering women. It's such an important announcement, everybody needed this. Now is the right time to do it," added Joanna, who is among the women learning to drive at the training program at Effat University campus.

For most of these young women, the hour-long training, sponsored by Ford Motor, is the first time they've ever sat behind the driver's wheel.

"I felt out of place, I've never sat on that side of the car. Usually I always sit in the back or on the right side, but it felt good. You feel, like, in control. It was nice," said Sara Ghouth, another woman who is enrolled in the driving program.

"I want to drive a car, I want to be independent, I want to be able to do things by my own without depending on anyone else," she added.

'The big difference'

A Saudi woman sits in a car during a driving training at a university in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, March 7, 2018. /Reuters Photo

The instructors appear impressed by the women’s enthusiasm about the training. "With these girls, they're like an empty book so you need to write everything on it and they really want to learn,” the report quoted Italian driving instructor and former racecar driver Francesca Pardini as saying.

"So this is the big difference, so they really want to learn and they said 'I want my driving license and I plan on doing that because I really, really want it. I really, really need it. I want my car. I want to buy this kind of car, like this, like that', and so this is really the big difference," she added.

Anticipating a boost in car sales as women join as drivers and vehicle owners, automobile companies such as Ford, Volkswagen, Nissan and Jaguar have already initiated ad campaigns targeting the new customer base.

This combination of photos from Twitter shows ad campaigns by carmakers targeting women drivers as their new customer base.

"There should absolutely be a lift in sales. You know it's really just a matter of when it exactly it's going to come. Does it all come on day one?" said Crystal Worthem, Ford's marketing director for the Middle East and Africa region.

"Women have always been in our showrooms, but now women are actively shopping for themselves, which is exciting and it's a car that they can drive and not a car that they'll be riding in," she said.

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