沙特妇女争取开车的权利

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号：tingroom，领取免费英语资料大礼包。

　　WASHINGTON — If you are a woman and live in Saudi Arabia, authorities say you are not allowed to drive a car. This Saturday, however, Saudi women across the kingdom are set to defy this driving ban to draw attention to their plight¹.

　　Azizah al-Yousef is taking a stand by sitting behind the wheel. She has earned a driver's license² in one Gulf³ nation and in the United States. But, in her homeland of Saudi Arabia, authorities refuse to issue licenses⁴ to women.

　　Officials say it's for women's own good; a sheikh recently claimed that a woman's ovaries are negatively affected⁵ by her actions behind the wheel. This Saturday, al-Yousef and other women will take to the streets to show men that women should also be allowed to drive.

　　''The message from this campaign is a clarification to the decision makers⁶ [of] the readiness for the community for women to drive cars, nothing more. There will be no gatherings⁷ or demonstrations⁸. It is only to make women driving a matter of fact, and to get the street used to this,” said al-Yousef.

　　The social media campaign urging women to take the wheel this Saturday is garnering⁹ international attention. It's also creating a dialogue among Saudi men.

　　''I'm for women driving cars and I think that laws and legislation that will be enacted¹⁰ will protect the women, so there won't be any problems, God willing,'' said Ibrahim al-Rashid, a Saudi resident and supporter of women being allowed to drive.

　　''I'm honestly against women driving. I don't know how she'll cope if she has a flat tire. How would she act? Here, there's a lot of traffic. Riyadh is already crowded enough,'' said Hammad Hisham, another local.

　　For Saudi Mansour al-Shamari, the issue is personal.

　　''I encourage women to drive a car. A woman is a mother, sister, wife, beloved. She is a teacher, doctor, bank worker. She's now competing with men everywhere. They're now in the Shura Council, so why not? There's no problem,'' said al-Shamari.

　　But if there's no problem, why hasn't the ban ended? Al-Yousef hopes it will, and soon.

分享到：