On Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017, King Salman Bin Abdelaziz Al Saud and the Royal Decree, announced that the women of Saudi Arabia will be able to drive, but only in accordance with Islamic religious laws, that the government is trying to control.

Police are being trained to deal with women drivers, and how to interact with them despite the severe religious rules not allowing women to interact with men.

Saudi Arabians are sneaky when it comes to passing laws for making the country more female friendly. Women may have this right, but it comes with a price of silence, and a man’s permission for her to even get behind the wheel.

The world sees these new declarations as a step closer to gender equality, but don’t let this fool you, women are still nowhere close to being equal to the men of their country.

Just because women have the right to drive, attend events with other males, and vote, does not mean that they can. Under Islamic religious views a male family member must give permission before a woman can do anything, which means most women will still have no rights.

These Islamic views have men believe that if their wife were to drive they would become infertile, and it would lead to the destruction of Islamic value. Some men even believe a woman should not drive because their brain is half the size of a man’s.

Sickening beliefs like these are what made Manal al-Sharif, a famous activist driver, stand up for herself and others. Sadly, these protests only put women in greater danger.

Sharif was jailed for nine days, let go from her job, and forced to give up custody of her six-year-old son. Others were charged with terrorism, beat, and arrested.

Some of the first protests for women to drive occurred in 1990, 47 women drove for nearly an hour until taken in by religious police, fired from their jobs, and banned from traveling.

Everyday men do unspeakable acts towards women, acts such as stoning in cases of so called adultery, getting facial features cut off, such as noses and ears if they disobey their husband, even if the slightest amount of skin is showing a woman could be beat and shunned.

In the past few years Saudi Arabia has somewhat loosened up on their extremist views against females.

For the first time ever women were able to vote and stand as candidates in municipal elections in 2015.

Since then they are now allowing women to attend popular music concerts, and gender mixed gatherings. Females are even allowed into public sporting events, if permission by a male relative is granted.

To have a man tell you that you cannot open a bank account, marry who you love, divorce, travel, swim, even show your face, makes you feel worthless.

Saudi Arabia isn’t the only country with strict views against women. Afghanistan, Iraq, The Republic of Congo are some of the worst places to be born a woman.