Manal al-Sharif (b. 1979) is a Saudi Arabian women's rights activist, writer, and information-security specialist who became an international symbol of the movement to end the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia. In May 2011 she filmed herself driving in the eastern city of Khobar and posted the video online, an act of civil disobedience that led to her arrest and helped launch the Women2Drive campaign.[1]
Early life and education
Manal al-Sharif was born on 25 April 1979 in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. She studied computing at King Abdulaziz University, earning a degree in computer science, and has described a strict religious upbringing from which she later distanced herself.[1]
Career
After graduating, al-Sharif worked as an information-security consultant at Saudi Aramco, the country's state oil company, becoming one of relatively few Saudi women employed in a senior technical role at the time.[1]
The Women2Drive campaign
Although no formal statute banned women from driving in Saudi Arabia, authorities did not issue driving licences to women, effectively prohibiting the practice. In 2011 al-Sharif helped organise Women2Drive, a campaign encouraging Saudi women to get behind the wheel. On 17 May 2011 she recorded herself driving through Khobar and shared the footage online. She was arrested and detained for several days, a case that drew widespread international attention.[1]
Recognition and later work
In 2012, Time magazine named al-Sharif one of the 100 most influential people in the world,[3] and the Human Rights Foundation awarded her its inaugural Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent.[4] She subsequently left Saudi Arabia and settled abroad, continuing to speak publicly on women's rights and freedom of expression. In 2017 she published a memoir, Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman's Awakening, recounting her upbringing and her role in the driving campaign.[2]
Legacy
Al-Sharif is widely credited with helping to bring global scrutiny to restrictions on Saudi women's freedom of movement. Saudi Arabia lifted its ban on women driving in June 2018.[1]
References
- Manal al-Sharif — Wikipedia
- Manal al-Sharif, Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman's Awakening (Simon & Schuster, 2017)
- The 100 Most Influential People in the World, Time (2012)
- Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent, Human Rights Foundation
