A Saudi Woman Who Got Behind the Wheel and Never Looked Back
Speaking to women in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, Ivanka Trump called the country’s progress on women’s rights "very encouraging," even as she acknowledged
that "there’s still a lot of work to be done." Ms. al-Sharif found the appraisal insulting.
Speaking out — and that too, abroad — meant losing her job, Ms. al-Sharif said, along with company housing.
Ms. al-Sharif was back in Saudi Arabia by then, living in the Aramco compound, a divorced single mother to her son, Abdalla.
Inside Saudi Arabia, the rules were — and remain — particularly onerous for women.
I met Ms. al-Sharif in Norway, at a human rights conference in the capital, Oslo, in late May, as the Trump family was visiting her country.
She is now best known for challenging the laws and mores
that keep women down in Saudi Arabia, including what she considers the kingdom’s infantilizing restrictions on the right of women to drive.
