The crucial first step to liberation

Met with euphoric cheers after initial unbelief around the world this week was the move by the ultra-conservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia to break from an oppressive tradition of the past, finally allowing its women to drive.

Tuesday’s announcement of the decree signed by King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud authorizing the issuance of drivers’ licenses to women is part of his kingdom’s reform program. The program, which seeks primarily to adjust its economy to the pressures of a post-oil era, also involves relaxing certain social restrictions in the heartland of the Islam faith.