Plunderbund

It seems Saudi Arabia has decided to grant women the privilege* of driving, but it’s not as well-intentioned as it might seem.

Saudi Arabia is to lift its ban on women drivers in an attempt to stem a rising suffragette-style movement in the deeply conservative state.

Government officials have confirmed the landmark decision and plan to issue a decree by the end of the year.

The move is designed to forestall campaigns for greater freedom by women, which have recently included protesters driving cars through the Islamic state in defiance of a threat of detention and loss of livelihoods.

How benevolent of the Saudi ruling class. It seems pretty clear to me that this is the first step in a long slippery slope to equal rights for women in Saudi Arabia. It may just take some time, but I somehow doubt that this will pacify those seeking suffrage.

However, it seems that many - even women! - in the West would like us to move in the opposite direction.

As the plane reached cruising speed, the captain’s voice crackled across the Tannoy to welcome us aboard and give us details about the flight ahead.

Almost immediately I began to shift nervously in my seat. Not because we were being told of impending turbulence or being given giddy-making statistics about our altitude and speed.

What unsettled me was the voice coming over the loud speaker. Our captain was a woman.

With a female pilot at the helm, my husband immediately made some comment about women drivers before returning to his crossword.

I, on the other hand, felt uncomfortable and found it hard to relax for the rest of the flight. All I could think about was this young woman - well, she sounded young - cradling 200 lives in the palm of her hand.

The sisterhood may blanch at my reaction but the fact is that, despite being a woman, I am at heart a “male chauvinist”.

That, my friends, is just the tip of the iceberg. The entire article is filled with this woman’s neuroses. Frankly, I’m a little surprised that she feels that, as a woman, she’s qualified to hold her own opinion, and have it published in the paper. Sheesh.

BTW, you can’t really be a “male chauvinist” without being male. It’s kind of in the definition of the word chauvinist. This woman is flat out sexist, preferring to subjugate herself to men.

* - Yes, driving is a “privilege” and not a “right”. Gender, however, is not a valid discriminator when it comes to granting or revoking that privilege.