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Banned from driving a car, Saudi woman becomes pilotBy Michael TheodoulouHANADI HINDI will not be allowed to drive to the airport, but when she gets there she will be able to fly jet aircraft. The 26-year-old Saudi is to become the kingdom’s first accredited woman pilot after signing a contract with the fleet of Prince al-Walid bin Talal, a billionaire Saudi businessman and nephew of King Fahd. “I am proud of myself and my family for supporting me, and I’m proud of Prince al-Walid bin Talal . . . (who) made this great offer,” she told The Times. After an advanced flight training programme in neighbouring Jordan, Ms Hindi is due to start work by the middle of next year. The Prince, a reformist, paid for her studies in Jordan. “Recruiting Captain Hindi as a pilot . . . is a major step in the employment of women and in their more active participation in Saudi society,” he said. “I’m in full support of Saudi ladies working in all fields.” The Forbes website lists Prince al-Walid as the world’s fourth-richest man, with a net worth of $21.5 billion (£11.4 billion). It describes him as a “jet-setting prince” who is “transforming himself into a businessman-cum-political activist”. In June the Saudi Government lifted a ban on women holding jobs in most fields. The reform was partly a response to international calls for political and social change. But economic pressure has also played a part. Women, who must cover themselves from head to toe and be accompanied by a male relative in public, make up more than half the graduates from Saudi universities, but only 5.5 per cent of the 4.7 million Saudi women of working age are employed. However, reform is being resisted by the powerful religious establishment and some members of the Saudi Royal Family. Women are not allowed to drive. Nor will they be allowed to vote in next year’s municipal elections, the first in the kingdom for more than 40 years. “Women are very capable of taking on any job previously monopolised by men,” said Ms Hindi, a former English literature student at a college in Mecca, her home town. The ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia was made official only in 1990 after 47 women demonstrated against what was then a customary law by driving a convoy of cars in Riyadh. They were arrested and detained until male relatives signed undertakings that they would not violate the ban again. The ban was made official by a fatwa issued by the Council of Senior Ulama (religious scholars). “Women driving leads to many evils . . . included among these is her mixing with men without her being on her guard,” the fatwa said. Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1373382,00.html November 25, 2004
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