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The Saudi Woman Who Dared to Drive
Manal al-Sharif was born in Saudi Arabia in 1979. That means, for her entire life in her country:
• She was covered from head to toe in public
• Separation between genders was strictly enforced
• There were no sports for women
• The acceptable occupations for women were considered health care and education
• Even though she loved to draw, she could not draw animals or people
• Women were not allowed to drive or even talk about women driving
One day, she did the unthinkable. She got in a car and started driving.
Jane Friedman is the web editor of VQR; in a prior life, she was the publisher of Writer’s Digest. She speaks frequently at publishing industry conferences on how the digital age is affecting writers and authorship. She’s active on Twitter (@JaneFriedman) and Google Plus.