Saudi Women Drivers Risk Damage To Their Ovaries Claims Cleric

Cleric Claim Driving Harms Women’s Reproduction

In Saudi Arabia, conservative cleric Sheikh Saleh bin Saad al-Lohaidan told the SABQ Online Newspaper that women shouldn’t drive because “functional and physiological medical studies” have proven that driving negatively affects the ovaries and pelvis. He also stated that women who drive “continuously” have children with “clinical problems.”

“If a woman drives a car, not out of pure necessity, that could have negative physiological impacts as functional and physiological medical studies show that it automatically affects the ovaries and pushes the pelvis upwards,” he said in an interview published on Friday on the website sabq.org.

“That is why we find those who regularly drive have children with clinical problems of varying degrees,” he said.

Al-Lohaidan’s comments were in response to a petition published last week at www.oct26driving.com urging all Saudi women to drive on October 26 in protest of the guardianship policy that bans them from driving. The petition points out that the ban is conservative in origin and not a traffic or religious law; and asks the government to prove its legality.

So far the petition has garnered more than 12,000 signatures from those asking authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to lift a de facto ban than prohibits women from driving, reports CNN.

“There is no justification for the Saudi government to prohibit adult women citizens who are capable of driving cars from doing so,” reads part of the petition. No traffic law specifically prohibits women from driving in Saudi Arabia, but religious edicts there are often interpreted to mean women are not allowed to operate a vehicle.

The new petition also urges the Saudi government to present “to the citizens a valid and legal justification” for the ban, demanding authorities should not simply blame it on “societal consensus.”

On the Internet, women from around the world immediately spoke out against Al-Lohaidan and the keyword “#WomensDrivingAffectsOvariesAndPelvises” quickly spread on social networks.

When idiocy marries dogma in the chapel of medieval traditions, this is their prodigal child. #?????_??????_????_???_???????_??????

— Shamael Al-Sharikh (@Shamael3) September 28, 2013

Worldwide outrage did not stop the Saudi government though from shutting down the website inside the kingdom over the weekend.

#?????_??????_????_???_???????_??????
Does anything ever happen to your balls? No? Then we’re fine"

— jamila alqhtani (@JamilaAlqhtani) September 30, 2013

This issue has been brought to light more than once recently with a 2011 protest resulting in severe punishment of women who went against the ban.

Many hope that King Abdullah, often referred to as a women’s rights advocate, will intervene and allow Saudi women to have licenses.

On The Web:

Driving Damages Women’s Ovaries, Says Saudi Arabian Cleric Sheikh Saleh Al-Lohaidan
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/09/30/driving-damages-womens-ovaries-saudi-arabian-cleric-sheikh-saleh-al-lohaidan_n_4015286.html

Saudi cleric says women who drive risk damaging their ovaries
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/29/us-saudi-driving-idUSBRE98S04B20130929

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/29/world/meast/saudi-arabia-women-driving-cleric/index.html