Thanks to Feministing.org who so often leads me to great stories like this one about Wajeha Al-Huwaider, a women’s rights activist in Saudi Arabia marked International Women’s Day this past weekend by defying the ban on women. Not only that, but she video taped the action and posted it on YouTube!

In September, more than 1,100 Saudi men and women signed a petition to King Abdullah urging him to lift the controversial ban on women driving in the oil-rich kingdom, which applies a strict form of Sharia (Islamic law).

The petition — a brainchild of Huwaidar and other activists — stressed that Islam does not put constraints on women such as the driving ban and points out that women already “drive in villages and remote rural areas.”

A group of 47 women defied the ban on driving by roaming the streets of the capital Riyadh in 15 cars in November 1990. They were swiftly rounded up by police and penalised, while their male guardians were reprimanded.

The following year, a fatwa (religious edict) was issued by the then mufti of Saudi Arabia,  prohibiting women from driving cars. [AFP]

Feel inspired? Learn more about International Womens Day by clicking here.