SHOURA Council member Latifah Al-Shalan tweeted that she hopes the council will pay attention to the hefty costs resulting from its delay in studying the proposal of giving women the right to drive. Al-Watan daily reported Monday that Al-Shalan and her council colleague Haya Al-Manea put forth a proposal covering all technical and procedural aspects of this issue with a focus on six factors in support of the proposal from the perspectives of Shariah, economy, security and human rights. They both maintained that the council should treat the proposal as due process and study and discuss it in a session, just like it does with other proposals. How can the council delay discussing a sensitive issue like the women's right to drive, which has received intensive media coverage and has been debated and discussed on the social media many times? Many members of the public have debated the issue, including elderly men and women, adults, children and even the illiterate. If the council does not want to discuss it, what is it going to do with more serious issues? Why does the council not put the proposal on the table and let the general public know their opinion about it? The proposal put forth by the two women members does not necessarily have to be good. Or perhaps it is a good one but not suitable. As people, we want to know what the council thinks about it so that this problem is resolved. When we talk about the exorbitant costs of the delays in discussing this issue, we will be shocked to know the costs are increasing day after day. It is high time the council discussed it to put an end to the public debate.
