Victory! Sec. Clinton Publicly Supports Saudi Women's Right to Drive

Top U.S. diplomat responds to Saudi women’s campaigns on Change.org asking her to publicly declare support for Saudi women’s right to drive.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton publicly declared her support for Saudi women’s right to drive campaigns on Tuesday.

"What these women are doing is brave, and what they are seeking is right," Clinton said. “I'm moved by it [the campaign] and I support them."

The statement comes after Saudi Women for Driving, a coalition of leading Saudi women’s rights activists, bloggers and academics, directly called on Secretary Clinton to make a public statement in support of Saudi women’s right to drive on Change.org, the world’s fastest-growing platform for social change.

On Monday State spokesperson Victoria Nuland responded to the Saudi women’s calls by saying Clinton was engaged in “quiet diplomacy” and had raised the issue privately with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal.

Saudi Women for Driving pushed back on that approach, telling Clinton that “quiet diplomacy is not what we need right now.”

“For the United States’ top diplomat to make no public statement about such developments sends exactly the wrong message to the Saudi government and, more importantly, to the women of Saudi Arabia,” the women wrote in a letter released early this morning and send to 17 of Clinton’s top aides.

At a press conference two hours later, Clinton said she had raised the ban on Saudi women’s driving with “the highest level of the Saudi government.”

"We have made clear our views that women everywhere, including women in the kingdom, have the right to make decisions about their lives, and their futures," she told reporters. "They have the right to contribute to society, and provide for their children and their families... Mobility, such as provided by the freedom to drive, provides access to economic opportunity, including jobs."

So what changed?

Clinton's spokesperson Victoria Nuland says that Clinton read the letter from Saudi Women for Driving and it encouraged her to say something in their defense when asked.

"There was a direct request in the letter for the Secretary to speak out," Nuland confirmed. "She felt that it was timely and appropriate to speak out publicly even as we speak privately."

Saudi Women for Driving is an informal consortium of Saudi women’s rights activists pulled together after the arrest of Manal al-Sharif, a Saudi mother jailed for driving her car. The group seeks to use online campaigning to build international support for Saudi women’s right to drive. More than 100,000 people in 156 countries have joined Saudi Women for Driving campaigns on Change.org.

“To see a grassroots movement of Saudi women’s rights activists use our platform to successfully lobby the United States’ most powerful diplomat has been truly heartening,” said Change.org founder Ben Rattray. “Inspired by the Arab Spring, these women have launched the largest women’s rights protest movement in Saudi history, and recruited more than 100,000 supporters in more than 150 countries to their various campaigns. Change.org is about empowering anyone, anywhere to demand action on the issues that matter to them, and it is an honor to provide a platform for these Saudi women.”

Clinton's comments in full:

With respect to Saudi Arabia and the ban on women driving, let me start by saying that this is about Saudi women themselves. They have joined together. They are acting on behalf of their own rights. This is not about the United States. It is about the women of Saudi Arabia. And what these women are doing is brave and what they are seeking is
right. But the effort belongs to them. I am moved by it and I support them, but I want to underscore the fact that this is not coming from outside of their country. This is the women themselves seeking to be recognized.

And we have raised this issue at the highest level of the Saudi Government. We’ve made clear our views that women everywhere, including women in the Kingdom, have the right to make decisions about their lives and their futures. They have the right to contribute to society and to provide for their children and their families. And mobility, such as provided by the freedom to drive, provides access to economic opportunity, including jobs, which does fuel growth and stability. And it’s also important for just day-to-day life, to say nothing of the necessity from time to time to transport children for
various needs and sometimes even emergencies.

Now, I know there is an active debate in Saudi Arabia on a range of social issues. For our part, we will continue in private and in public to urge all governments to address issues of discrimination and to ensure that women have the equal opportunity to fulfill their own God-given potential. But I want to, again, underscore and emphasize that this is not about the United States, it’s not about what any of us on the outside say; it is about the women themselves and their right to raise their concerns with their own government.

Photo: US Mission Canada