Saudi Arabia In Transition From Banning Women Drivers To Stereotyping Them

Observers welcome it as a sign that traditional Saudi society can adapt quickly to such changes.

Riyadh, November 16 – Following a change to the law last month that saw the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia make it legal for women to drive motor vehicles, the society has begun to shift toward the norm in countries where female drivers are commonplace: generalizations about the supposedly erratic, incompetent driving of women drivers.

Observers of culture and media in the conservative kingdom have noted the shift, and welcome it as a sign that the Saudi society, as traditional as it has always been, shows the capacity to adapt quickly to such changes.

“It’s encouraging to see so much stereotyping going on, out in the open, so soon after the law changed,” gushed Bihanda Weel, a columnist for The Times of Arabia. “Some of us expected there to be a difficult transition period in which the Saudi people would struggle to adopt the active use of these stereotypes on the road, but they have made such a smooth switch to the new reality. I’m proud to be Saudi.”

“We still have some catching up to do,” cautioned TV commentator Daatan Qalla. “That might just be a function of numbers, there being so few women driving at the moment, but we can’t make a serious claim to having matured as a society until we’re hearing about everyday encounters with women failing to parallel park because of a supposed inability to perceive depth, or rotate objects in their heads. It will take more than simply grafting our traditional disdain for women’s cognitive abilities onto this new medium.”

Saudi insurance companies have adopted a wait-and-see attitude toward different insurance premiums for men and women drivers of otherwise similar circumstances. “I know in the West the actuarial tables indicate the stereotype is not accurate, or at least no longer accurate,” stated Risq Assessr of Royal Saudi Insurance, a division of the state-owned ARAMCO conglomerate. “But that might only be true of Western women, who are promiscuous and of low morality, and who deserve whatever misfortune they get for embracing an infidel lifestyle. Our dignified, modest, righteous women might not behave the same way as those atheist swine drivers, but it will take some time before the statistics bear that out, so insurance figures will have to be based more on guesswork until then.”

“Oh, excuse me, did I just engage in stereotyping?” he added. “Wow. I guess I have it in me after all. This is an encouraging moment.”

Please support our work through Patreon.