Saudi Woman Drives on YouTube

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, March 10, 2008 — -- When Wajeha Al Huwaider gets behind the wheel of a car, it's a daring and defiant act, flying -- or driving -- in the face of Saudi Arabia's ban on female drivers.

This weekend, in honor of International Women's Day and in protest of the law, she posted a video on Youtube of her driving inside the kingdom.

Al Huwaider is one of a group of women petitioning for the right to drive in Saudi Arabia. In a country governed by fundamentalist interpretations of Islam its activities have earned the group a rash of slanderous accusations and death threats from religious conservatives.

"They accuse me, [saying] 'you are a prostitute and you want all the women to be like you.' That's how they see when a women drives a car," Al Huwaider told ABC News after making the video.

She made the video while driving outside the city limits of her hometown, Dahran, a city in Saudi Arabia's eastern province.

She says women can get away with driving outside major urban areas. Some Saudi women drive within private compounds or limited rural spaces. Al Huwaider, who took driving lessons in Bloomington, Ind., drives to work each day within a compound.

In the clip Al Huwaider makes an impassioned speech in Arabic from behind the wheel. She congratulates women around the world for their achievements and calls on all women in Saudi Arabia to fight for more legal and social rights.

Al Huwaider and her fellow activists have collected signatures from women around the country hoping that the Ministry of the Interior will overturn the ban. Saudi women have protested the ban for decades, but with new technology they have been able to amplify an emboldened voice of opposition.

There have been broad calls for greater legal and civil rights in Saudi Arabia. Those in favor of change include the Saudi ruler, King Abdullah, who announced an initial set of judicial reforms last year. The King has said that he expects Saudi women will drive one day. But, for the time being, the ban remains.