Three female members of Saudi Arabia's Shura Consultative Council have reportedly filed a recommendation against the ban on women driving in the kingdom.
Council members, Latifa Al Shaalan, Haya Al Mani and Muna Al Mashit, filed a the recommendation urging the kingdom's top consultative body to recognise the rights of women to drive a car in accordance with the principles of Sharia (Islamic law) and traffic rules.
This comes amidst huge debate when a Saudi cleric had dismissed a scheduled protest against the ban, that women who drive risk damaging their ovaries and ultimately their reproductive systems.
However, the Shura council members backed their arguments with results of studies on the various justifications for women to drive and Shaalan said that there is no law that bans women from driving, Gulf News reports.
Shaalan further said that Saudi women have made many achievements and acquired leading positions in the government and the UN, yet they are barred from driving, which creates a negative image for the kingdom as a whole.
The report said that the protest drive, scheduled for October 26 seeks to defy the longstanding ban on women driving in the ultraconservative kingdom, and an online petition for the same cause has garnered support of 3,000 Saudis who have urged the council to scrap the ban.
