Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

By Kristina Gardner

By now I’m sure almost everyone has heard the news about Saudi Arabian women finally getting the right to vote. This is exciting because they are one of the very last countries to pass the right for women to vote. Which is hard to believe in our day and age, right? Well, not more than a week after this came out, it then surfaced that a woman was to receive 10 lashes for driving. You read that right, for driving, a car, like most of us do every day without thinking.

So it begs the question: Is Saudi Arabia moving two steps forward and one step back? They are moving forward to let them vote and make decisions for their country, but somehow they still receive lashes and sometimes jail time for driving a car, as well as not being allowed out of their home without a man with them, and they can’t vote in all elections or without a male relative’s permission Talk about oppression and sidelining women! This would be like in America if when women got the right to vote, in 1920, they weren’t allowed to have jobs or walk alone. But that was then, this is the 21^st century! Can you imagine living your day to day life – especially as a mother or a working woman—and not having a car or be able to go to the grocery store without a male present? It’s crazy to think about but that is these women’s reality.  Is it too much to hope that they change their laws to include women instead of excluding them?