Manal al-Sharif is a Saudi women’s rights activist who helped start a right to drive campaign in 2011 when she posted a video of herself doing so on social media.
She also happens to be a massive football fan and was proud to say she will attend the FIFA Women’s World Cup final on Sunday.
But winning the right to drive in Saudi Arabia is far from the end. Having arrived in Australia in 2017, al-Sharif still can’t return to where she was born. Women in Saudia Arabia might be able to drive, but still face restrictions on so many other areas of their lives.
Speaking today at the 2023 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Summit, al-Sharif shared more on the full meaning of the right-to-drive campaign, and drew parallels to the success of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
al Sharif posted a video of herself driving on social media during the Arab Spring, which threw the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia into a spin. She was jailed for nine days, but still managed to kick off a movement that saw the country ultimately ending its ban on women driving.
“We won the right to drive. It wasn’t about driving cars; it was about being seen, being heard. It was about driving our own destiny,” she told the audience in Sydney today.
In 2023 as Saudi Arabia is increasingly trying to rub out its record on human rights, al Sharif thanked Australia for not accepting money from Saudi Arabia to sponsor the Womens World Cup, urging no country or sport to accept such funding until the country makes significant changes. “I don’t think any country should accept money for sportswashing from Saudi Arabia until I can return.
al Sharif spoke about growing up in Saudi Arabia, where women couldn’t play football or even watch women playing any sport. She described how the small liberties she had, ended at 12. According to Saudi law, that is when females are deemed women. She could no longer ride a bike or play football but could still watch football.
She spoke about not being able to drive, recalling her son hitting his head and not being able to drive him to the hospital – having to wait for her husband to come home to take him, despite there being a car ready to go outside her home.
2011, the time of the Arab Spring and as social media and smartphones were coming into widespread use, was her breakthrough.
“As a woman, we fall to the bottom of society. So, a man speaks on my behalf. We are nameless voices. We are also faceless because we have to cover our faces to go anywhere,” she said.
al Sharif ultimately paid a significant cost for speaking out; exiled from her country and separated from her son.
“The cost of silence is even more because in silence, tyranny and injustice happen more” she said.
“What if we all spoke? That is deafening. That is unstoppable. Those few brave won’t be singled out and targeted.”
She also shared more on the World Cup as a symbol for the fights women are taking on for equality all over the world.
“The FIFA Women’s World Cup is so much more than a game, it’s a testament to the battles we’ve won. We women have played until they could no longer look away and ignore us,” she said.
“Let’s create a world where everyone gets a chance to equal play. The fight for women anywhere in the world contributes to the fight for women everywhere in the world.
al-Sharif also addressed the right to watch women’s sport.
Just 25 per cent of FIFA Women’s World Cup games were broadcast on free-to-air television, with Channel 7 widely now acknowledged as negotiating a bargain for these rights, given the record-breaking audience figures that have occurred.
But anti-siphoning laws mean that this doesn’t happen in other — mostly male sports. She shared how key broadcast rules around AFL, Rugby League, Rugby Union, the Olympics, netball and FIFA Men’s World Cup, protect the right of Australians to have access to watch these sports freely. The FIFA Women’s World Cup is not included in such legislation — a massive, missed opportunity.
“We don’t have to only celebrate the wins. We can also revisit the losses,” she said.