Forum to discuss all issues related to women driving in Saudi Arabia

The forum aims to present quality services, find job opportunities. (REUTERS)
  • The Saudi General Directorate of Traffic and Najm Insurance Services celebrated the graduation of the first class of women investigators
  • The forum will be a platform that brings together all the services related to women driving under one roof

JEDDAH: “Laki Al-Kiyadah” (Driving for Women), the first Saudi forum that monitors the historic event of women driving, will disclose a number of job opportunities, services and facilities the Kingdom will witness in the coming period.
The forum will be held in Leylaty Hall in Jeddah on July 8 and 9, and will be inaugurated by Prince Khalid bin Sultan Abdullah Al-Faisal, chairman of the Saudi Arabian Motor Federation.
It will monitor the economic and social effects of the decision, which was implemented amid overwhelming joy, in an exceptional event that caught the attention of Arab and Western media.
The forum targets more than 20,000 girls and women, and will witness the presence of six bodies including the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Media, with the strategic partnership of Traffic Management, the Saudi Committee of Traffic Safety and Standardization Committee, in addition to automobile dealers, banks, insurance companies and logistical service providers.
Five women leaders will present their papers and an integrated vision of the challenges women face after the implementation of the resolution, while legal advisers uncover the sanctions that entail women’s harassers while driving their cars. Economists will discuss the effects and diverse opportunities created by the decision.
The executive chairman of the forum, Sohail Al-Tayyar, announced families and women will not be charged an entry fee. He said this is the first event of its kind that interacts with the decision of women driving and surveys the economic and social effects of the decision. It focuses on raising awareness on women’s role in economic, social and urban development, and increases the joint effort in building a society and country, in response to modern changes and within the context of religious values.
The forum aims to present quality services, find job opportunities and special services, create the best conditions for women through a number of goals that include clarification of methods and demands of women driving as a partner in developing the community.
It also aims to explain traffic regulations and controls, regulatory provisions for women driving vehicles, all the while raising social awareness, highlighting the role of car dealers in presenting facilities and technology of vehicles and their requirements for women, along with credit facilities and the insurance sector as a partner in the system.
Al-Tayyar noted that the forum will witness a number of discussions and papers that tackle women driving and the economic and social effect, some of the biggest challenges facing Saudi women and women living in the country, the quantity and quality of training and career opportunities, the sanctions for hampering women driving, the implementation of the Vehicle Safety Act and a comprehensive definition of the harassment law which the authorities have started implementing to protect women from harassers.
He said: “The forum will be a platform that brings together all the services related to women driving under one roof, whether it is direct and indirect offers, reductions, services or facilities. The event will witness a number of awareness-raising workshops and lectures from official bodies participating such as the Ministry of Interior or the Ministry of Media, with a clarification of the formal and developmental framework and investment opportunities in the car market which will witness a significant rebound after the implementation of the resolution.”