Starting in June, women in Saudi Arabia will finally be able to get behind the wheel after decades of being banned from driving. As the much-anticipated deadline draws near, women across the Kingdom are finding ways to get as many driving sessions as they can. With the exuberant prices for lessons, costing as much as six times more for women than it costs for men, many have taken to social media to ask for help.
According to Elle US, women with some driving experience are required to take 30 hours of training before they can qualify for a license, while those without any experience are required 90 hours. The average price of one hour of driving practice costs around 60 to 75 riyals, meaning women without experience will pay nearly $1,800 just to get the hours needed. For men, it costs a little more than $100.
That is why many Saudi women have taken to Twitter across the Kingdom, asking for help from those with driving experience, using the hashtag #مستعده_ادرب" (in English, #IAmReadyToTrainYou), which was started by Hanaa Aldhafery.
The 32-year-old Saudi woman posted a tweet last week saying, "Are there any volunteers who are ready to train others to drive for free? (And the training will be after Ramadan because we don’t want any trouble with the law and the training will be in parking lots away from crowded places) If the answer is yes write the name of your city in the #مستعده_ادرب".
Taking Aldhafery's lead, both women and men in Saudi Arabia who know how to drive are now generously offering to teach women in the same vicinity, while others are even offering to lend their cars for lessons.
