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"Fourteen female United States senators have sent a letter to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, asking him to lift the ban that keeps women from driving within the kingdom. \nThe letter \u2014 dated July 26 \u2014 comes as a major boost for an ongoing social media campaign against the ban.\nThe bipartisan letter admits that the kingdom has recently taken some steps that advance women's rights, including the appointment of its first woman deputy minister and the establishment of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, \"the only university in Saudi Arabia that allows women to study alongside men and where women are allowed to drive motor vehicles on campus.\" \nBut the senators feel the country needs to do more, given that its government accepted the majority of recommendations by a United Nations human rights group. The senators' letter says one of these recommendations included putting an end to \"all legislation, measures and practices that discriminate against women... including... the prohibition on women driving.\"\n\"Given this commitment, we strongly believe it is time to abolish the prohibition on women driving once and for all, especially in light of Saudi Arabia's role as a newly elected member of the board of UN Women,\" the letter says.\nThere is no actual written law that keeps women from driving in Saudi Arabia, but religious edicts enforced by religious police have made it the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive. This is why the Women2Drive movement, which first began spreading across social sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, came about. Some women have continued driving past the original protest date of June 17, posting about their experiences on Twitter and also posting videos on YouTube. \nThough most women spoke of little to no harassment while driving, five were arrested in the city of Jeddah at the end of June. Most recently, Saudi media reported that a woman who says she was driving to seek medical help for a hemorrhage will be tried. \n\"The prohibition on women driving motor vehicles, even in cases of emergency, makes it impossible for citizens to exercise a basic human right,\" the U.S. senators' letter reads.\nThe letter includes signatures from California's Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democrat and senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Louisiana's Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu; and Republican senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine.\nThe fourteen senators aren't the first U.S. female politicians to throw their support behind the Women2Drive movement. A number of House of Representatives members \u2014 including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. \u2014 also expressed their support for the campaign last month. Shortly after that, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke at a news conference, following a Change.org petition started by activist coalition Saudi Women for Driving, calling the women's efforts brave.\nThe European Union's Catherine Ashton, high representative and European Commission vice president, has also issued statements to show her support.\nThe Saudi Women for Driving seem pleased with the senators' recent letter.\n\"We welcome the support of so many U.S. senators,\" the group said in a statement. \"After more than 15,000 people from all over the world have joined our Change.org campaigns demanding that Saudi women be given the right to drive, it's high time that American leaders art taking the lead, and demanding that Saudi women be afforded the most basic human rights.\"\nThe full letter to King Abdullah can be viewed at Sen. Barbara Boxer's website. The complete list of senators who signed the letter is as follows: Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Kay Hagan (D-NC) and Susan Collins (R-ME).\nImage courtesy of Flickr, Travis S.\nMore Stories About Women2Drive\n\nSaudi Woman To Face Trial for Driving in Medical Emergency [REPORT]\nOnline Petition Calls for State Dept. To Condemn Saudi Women\u2019s Arrests\nSaudi Women\u2019s Driving Campaign Launches Facebook Ads\nSaudi Arabia Releases Women Arrested for Driving [REPORT]\nActivists: 5 Saudi Women Arrested for Driving\nSaudi Women Drive Again as European Union Offers Support\nSaudi Women Petition Subaru To Leave Country Over Driving Ban\nHillary Clinton Throws Support Behind Saudi Women2Drive Movement\nNancy Pelosi &amp; Colleagues Tweet Support for Saudi Women2Drive Campaign\nSaudis Use Social Media To Document Campaign for Women\u2019s Right To Drive\nSaudi Women Ready To Defy Driving Ban, Fueled by Social Media\nSaudi Woman Behind Social Media Driving Campaign Released From Detention\nSaudi Woman Arrested After Posting Online Clip of Herself Driving [VIDEO]\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2011/07/26/us-senators-saudi-king-drivers/>