The Lifestyle O A Suadi Arabia Women

My overall preconceptions of the culture presented in the book ‘Daring to Drive’ were mainly about a civilization that I didn’t truly comprehend. Manal al-Sharif memoir is based on a story that took place in Saudi Arabia, which is in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is an Islamic State which requires by law that citizens are Muslim. This information allowed me to commence making predictions of what I thought might have happened in the book. Knowing the culture, I will be studying made it easier for me to understand the situation that was taking place in the story since I have already learned certain things about Saudi Arabia and its’ culture from my AP Human Geography class.

Things such as, how women are deprived of lots of things, they don’t have many rights, the can’t go out without a male guardian or a close family member, they are forced to stay at home most of the time, they marry at a young age, and can’t drive according to customs, among lots of other things.

From the title of the book and the little summary on the back, I know that Manal al-Sharif is a young woman that was sent to prison by the Saudi Arabian government for driving in her country and becoming a leader of a courageous movement that supports women’s right in a country where women are not allowed to do practically anything. She is a very religious woman and her religious beliefs lead her to have a plethora of problems with the government, putting her in a compromising situation, where it shows that the government and its laws are based on a masculine figure and its analysis of religion as well as its cultural views.

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As I stated before, most of my knowledge and preconceptions came from what I learned this year in Human Geography class. The little I know, I read it from a chapter when I was studying the major religions of the world and when I was learning about the Middle East. Last but not least, I picked this book because of its name.

It honestly caught my attention. Later on, once I saw the cover I knew that it was the best book I could have chosen since I love everything that has to do with cultural and political conflict of the countries in the Middle East. Another reason is that I like empowering books as well as a feminist piece. Manal Al-Sharif grew up in Saudi Arabia and became radicalized to the ideals that took hold in her religion in her adolescence. But her education opened her eyes to the unfairness of her country’s beliefs, particularly when it came to women’s rights. She vowed to drive a car before her 30th birthday, and was thrown in jail for it. This is her story about her awakening and it is filled with some poignant thoughts on the future of her home country. Manal started to fear she had ‘disappeared’ and would never see her young son again.

Manal’s enlightenment came when she graduated University, a co-ed campus but one where girls sat in a separate room to boys and listened to their lectures and got a job as a computer security consultant for the national oil company Saudi Aramco. Originally set up by the US, the company was sold to Saudi Arabia with the stipulation that women be allowed to continue to work there. Inside the company compound (where only non-Saudi women were allowed to live), Manal experienced a freer way of life at work. One where she could talk to men, take off her niqab, and where she was allowed to drive.

In the book, something that was interesting is that Manal was a very religious woman when she was young, adhering to one of the most radical Muslim groups. She enforced the rules, even to the point of destroying her brother’s cassette tapes and generally hassling her family when they didn’t observe the customs. The restrictions for women having to cover their faces when going out, not being able to be around boys, for example, are many. There are also a lot of superstitions, which she chronicles well. The worst crime against women is genital mutilation, which doesn’t happen to every girl but it happened to her when she was 8. When I read this, I was shocked and really grossed out. I couldn’t believe that this basically happened to her because of her parents enforced education.