Woman in Saudi Arabia gets 150 lashes for driving

I read this yesterday and can’t get it out of my mind.  Nothing is said about the reasons she was driving–was she on her way to a job interview and had no other way to get there? Was she on her way to the doctor or perhaps the hospital?  Was she escaping an abusive husband?  Did she just want to freaking drive?

I can’t imagine being flogged 150 times and what kind of permanent scars that would bring (both emotionally and physically).

In a country that goes through the motions of punishing men who abuse women, I don’t see this as setting a good example of how to treat women (note that the fine does not include flogging for him).  If the state condones violence towards women…why would a man think he did not have the state’s implicit endorsement to do the same?

All she wants are the same rights as men…to drive…to vote…to move about freely without having to have a male companion…why is that such a threat? (Yes, I know that women have been given the right to vote…if they have a male companion who approves….so yeah, not much in the way of progress there.)

 

 

 

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