A Conversation With Saudi Women's Rights Campaigner Wajeha al-
Huwaider | The Nation   Subject to Debate  A Conversation With
Saudi Women's Rights Campaigner Wajeha al-Huwaider    • Share
• Decrease text size Increase text size  Wajeha al-Huwaider is
perhaps the best-known Saudi campaigner for women’s rights,
human rights and democracy. She has protested energetically
against the kingdom’s lack of formal laws (the Koran is it) and
basic freedoms and in particular against the guardianship
system, under which every female, from birth to death, needs the
permission of a male relative to make decisions in all important
areas of life—education, travel, marriage, employment, finances,
even surgery. In 2008 a video of her driving a car, which is
forbidden for women in Saudi Arabia, created a sensation when it
was posted on YouTube. Al-Huwaider is a strong supporter of the
June 17 Movement, which calls on Saudi women to start driving on
that date, and made the celebrated YouTube video of its co-
founder, Manal al-She