Prince Alwaleed bin Talal posted a link to a letter he wrote on Twitter called, "It is High Time that Saudi Women Started Driving their Cars," where he notes that the Q’uran does not ban women from driving and suggests that women obtaining licenses would be a great benefit to Saudi society.
In October 2013, roughly 60 Saudi protested the prohibition by filming themselves driving through the streets of Jedda, al-Ahsa and Riyadh. At least 13 of these videos appeared on Youtube. 32-year-old economics researcher and mother May al-Sawyan said at the time that she was "very happy and proud that there was no reaction against me" despite earlier warnings from police and conservative officials. "There were some cars that drove by. They were surprised, but it was just a glance. It is fine. They are not used to seeing women driving here."
A video parody of Bob Marley’s song "No Woman, No Cry" entitled "No Woman, No Drive" has garnered nearly 14 million views on Youtube to date.
Just before the demonstration, Muslim cleric Sheikh Saleh al-Lohaidan told news website Sabq.org that "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," according to a Huffington Post translation.
According to Prince Alwaleed, Saudi families spend 3,800 riyals per month (a little over $1,000) on foreign drivers, which he says "contributes to the syphoning of billions of riyal every year from the Saudi economy" in remittances according to Gulf Business. He believes that allowing women to drive will create employment opportunities for them and force the deportation of at least a million foreign drivers.
Deputy crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, has said that he's "not convinced about women driving", but Alwaleed posited that preventing women from driving is the same as keeping them from obtaining a job or education.
He wrote, "They are all unjust acts by a traditional society, far more restrictive than what is lawfully allowed by the precepts of religion." adding "Having women drive has become an urgent social demand predicated upon by current economic circumstances."
