The document discusses the discrimination faced by Muslim women, particularly in Saudi Arabia, where cultural norms have historically barred them from driving and making independent decisions. It highlights the struggles for equality and the impact of male guardianship laws on their freedoms, while also acknowledging some recent changes in legislation that have allowed women to drive. Despite these advancements, societal pressures and fears persist, limiting the full exercise of rights and freedoms for Muslim women.

1. Running head: MUSLIM WOMEN BARRED FROM DRIVING
CARS 1
MUSLIM WOMEN BARRED FROM DRIVING CARS
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Muslim women barred from driving cars
Student’s Name
Intuitional Affiliation
Prejudice, Discrimination, Power, and Privilege
In the world, the societies have been and still to this day diverse
and this issue is clear in the United States. For example in a

2. situation that comes to mind is how young men and boys of
color living in the US face being murdered by police which is
one of the main causes of death for young black men and boys
in the United States. A showed that about 1 in 1,000 black
males in America will more than likely die at the hands of cops
which puts them at a greater chance of being murdered than
white young men and boys during the same type of encounter
(Los Angeles Times, 2019). Diversity in different states in the
US has been an issue for a very long time where malpractices
such as discrimination, abuse of power, and prejudice have
become reality.
Over the past generations dramatic social and legal changes
have been pursued to pave the way for women’s acceptance
today; changes such as affirmative action, reproductive rights,
abortion, and the pursuit of higher education. Generations of
women have come together to help build stronger ground to
address women’s rights by participating in civil rights meetings,
petition drives, lobbying, public speaking and non-violent
resistance acts. Women have also overcome hardships such as
rejection, isolation, discrimination, and unfair treatment in the
workforce. In today’s society women now have more
opportunities then ever before such as involvement in social
clubs, career advancement, as well as being able to run for
public office. In contrast women have faced inequalities with
issues pertaining to the workplace, sports, and pregnancy. In
many positions in which women hold the same titles as males
they are typically offered less compensation then their male
counterparts. The sporting arena, for example, is set up to be a
male dominated event. Specifically in terms of sports such as
basketball and tennis with players such as Venus and Serena
Williams are not equally compensated financially compared to
male players. Women are also not treated fairly when they are
pregnant and in the workforce. Throughout history women have
been frowned upon due to having to leave the workforce
because of pregnancy and wanting to care for the child. Muslim
women like any other women have the right to be treated

3. equally and the right to exercise their religious beliefs and
freedom without prejudice and discrimination. This; however;
has not been the case as many Muslim women have undergone
and are still undergoing ethnic; racial, gender, and religious
discrimination harassment and discrimination. A good example
of this discrimination has been seen in Saudi Arabia where for a
very long time women have been barred from legally driving or
acquiring driving licenses. This is one of the cultural
discrimination that has been to bring a great dilemma to the
rights and freedom of Muslim women as a cultural group. This
cultural dilemma has resulted in many women activist being
jailed for championing for the right of Muslim women to drive.
The Muslim and Arab women have been among the most
discussed subjects in the Western parties for the last centuries.
The veil and oppression of the Arab and Muslim women have
been one of the most discussed topics at present than it was
before the pre-colonial and immediately after the post-colonial
period. Women from the Muslim and Arab cultures who live in
the Western countries often engage in the issue of the veil.
Once it is know that they are from the Muslim culture, the veil
becomes the only prominent topic of discussion. This topic is
everywhere in the Laundromat, train, universities or even at
parties. The knowledge between those who discusses this varies,
some of them show some ignorance on the Muslim and Arab
societies, others base their claims on the experiences they had
on their travels to the Muslim and Arab societies and others
refer their claims to the films and books. All of them regardless
of their evidence will adamantly admit that women in the
Muslim and Arab societies had rough times in their societies
Although there was a historic move by Saudi Arabian
government that gave women the right to drive, the fact is that
Muslim women in Saudi Arabia are still under repressive laws
that restrict them from making many formal decisions without
seeking permission from their male counterparts or relatives
(Thorsen, & Sreedharan 2019). Despite this complication, many
Muslim women have come out to take driving schools and many

4. driving licenses have been issued to qualified ones. Car
manufacturing companies have also joined the campaigns that
target Saudi women, and this could mean a positive step
towards fighting against discrimination and prejudice against
Saudi Muslim women.
Muslim women especially those from Saudi have powers and
privileges especially from some of laws, international
community, and human rights activists. During the year 2017
king Salman offered some royal decrees that lifted some of the
restrictions and laws that barred women from driving, owning
business, mixing with opposite sexes in public and attending
sporting arenas. Some women are aware of these privileges and
have come out even to share their videos behind wheels. Early
in 2019, a top general in Saudi government said over 70000
women had been issued with licenses to drive. Many women
however are not aware or are afraid to exercise these privileges
because other abuses and guardianship laws still overshadow
these privileges. Human rights activists for example the women
by the name Loujain al-Hathloul, who championed for the right
to allow women drive, is still in jail. Women who go against
their guardians directives are subject to arrest on the charges of
disobedience. This type of discrimination that barred Saudi
women from driving can considered as overt because it
originates from an Islamic law called wahhabism that is only
acceptable among the Muslims that dictates that every woman
must have a male guardian and that they cannot travel without
who can drive her (Al-Asfour et al., 2017). The fact that it is
acceptable by the Islamic religion only and not the society as a
whole’ makes it an overt discrimination against Muslim women.
The application of prejudice, discrimination, power, and
privilege has a negative impact on the African American
culture. Recent studies have explained how police violation and
killings have had a negative impact on the mental health of
African Americans even those who are not directly involved in
incidents like these but because of the diversity the young black
men and women when being pulled over for a simple traffic

5. violation is in fear of losing their lives (Smith College, 2016).
These discriminations on muslin women have many impacts on
lives of Saudi women in various aspects. In terms of goods and
services most of these Muslim women have no direct access
without consulting their guardian. They cannot make decisions
of their own in terms of goods and services they desire to
acquire. Although human rights are making steps to ensure that
Muslim women also ascend to positions of power and
leadership, it still a being challenge especially Saudi Arabia
because of the culture only allows men to in these positions of
power. Women who make attempts to go against these cultural
beliefs are arrested and jailed because they are considered to be
law breakers. Very few Muslims women have access to
education and other societal structures. The main reasons being
fear of infringements, like harassment, threats, and assaults
from others students in schools. Their lives have remained
under the power and control of men within their society.
References
Los Angeles Times, (2019).
Thorsen, E., & Sreedharan, C. (2019). # EndMaleGuardianship:
Women’s rights, social media and the Arab public sphere. New
Media & Society, 21(5), 1121-1140.
Al-Asfour, A., Tlaiss, H. A., Khan, S. A., & Rajasekar, J.
(2017). Saudi women’s work challenges and barriers to career
advancement. Career Development International, 22(2), 184-
199.
Running head: CULTURAL DILEMMAS
1
CULTURAL DILEMMAS
3
Cultural Dilemmas
Name:

6. University Affiliation:
Date:
Cultural Dilemmas
Between whites and blacks who makes a superior leader
Racial differences refer to the existence of different races at a
given setting. At work places especially in multinational
organizations, there is a tendency of job transfers happening
locally as well as internationally. This results in cases of
misunderstanding between work mates of different races due to
their physical differences. My interest in this cultural dilemma
comes because it seems many people do not want to leave their
home counties for international assignments for the fear of
racial differences.
One group that has faced a lot of racial discrimination is the
black people. It is bad especially when whites are imported into
their African countries to head work groups or projects. The
whites feel superior in that they discriminate the natives
believing that they are not competent enough to work alone. It
has resulted in micromanagement.
One so the issue that have resulted in the heated racial
discrimination is due to the slave trade that occurred putting the
blacks at the center of the business. Given that they were
mistreated and segregated, this led to a widespread of racism.
With the current education and the proliferation of technology,
there is enough information that depicts all human beings are
equal in all perspectives and that no one should feel superior
over another race. We should not discriminate one another
anymore.

7. Which religion is better than the other?
One of the issues that have greatly influenced our wellbeing is
the way to worship. We tend to believe that we have the most
truthful and superior religious beliefs that others. This has
resulted in many people not being able to understand whether
for example Muslims and Christians all worship the same God.
My interest I n this topic is to iron out what truth lies behind
each religion.
The cultural group that has been adversely affected with this
religious difference are the Christians and the Muslims. They
tend to have bad blood when addressing one anther based on
what they believe the other is wrong. There is a bad association
between Christian and Muslim communities.
The historical forces include civil wars between American and
European nations in Islamic states of the Middle East. Thus it
was seen as if Christian nations are against Muslim nations.
Therefore this is the reason as to why the beliefs about Muslim
view of religion are different with that of the Christians.
In the modern society, it happens that as one grows while still a
kid, he, or she is taught by the people he looks up to and he or
she tends to believe in them. This is what fixes a person to
believe in certain religion. However when a person can think
and decide for himself, then he or she doesn’t have to continue
believing in bad interreligious relations.
Muslim women barred from driving cars
Gender inequality has been as issue, in the Muslim states a lady
or a woman is not allowed to drive. It therefore becomes very
difficult for other women who are form western nations to
decide to drive as they feel that they could be dishonoring the
men who are only allowed to drive in these nations.

8. This is a dilemma that both affects Muslim women and women
form western countries. The Muslim women wonder whether
they can drive in the western countries since at their home they
are not allowed to do so. Consequently, western women wonder
whether it is ethical to drive in Muslim nations since the active
women are not allowed to.
Societal forces that have resulted in this are the laws drafted by
the Muslim leaders barring women form driving in their cities.
This is because women are to respect their male counterparts
who have been tasked to head such activities. Besides, their
dressing code does not give then the ample space to be watchful
on the roads.
Muslim women are equal human beings just like the western
women. Therefore it should not in any way be a case of
discriminative assignment of duties since the female gender is
thought to be inferior. They should be allowed to drive as they
can drive well in other countries.
References
Collins, S. (2005). Living islam out loud: American muslim
women Speak/Shattering the stereotypes: Muslim women speak
out. Library Journal, 130(11), 74. Retrieved from
https://search.proquest.com/docview/196791296?accountid=305
52
Fox, J., & Akbaba, Y. (2015). Securitization of islam and
religious discrimination: Religious minorities in western
democracies, 1990-2008. Comparative European Politics, 13(2),
175-197. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/cep.2013.8
Heath, A. F., & Stasio, V. D. (2019). Racial discrimination in
britain, 1969–2017: A meta‐analysis of field experiments on
racial discrimination in the british labour market. The British
Journal of Sociology, 70(5), 1774-1798.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12676

9. Week 5 - Written Assignment
Cultural Perspectives Draft
The goal of this assignment is to integrate cultural nuances,
expectations, and perspectives into a draft of your final paper.
You will present a current diversity-related situation or
dilemma; compare and contrast the cultures involved in the
situation; and provide a historical perspective and analyze the
contributing factors to the current state of the situation. You
will then interpret the effects of the situation on the cultures
involved, provide evidence in favor of and opposed to each side
of the situation. Finally, you will assess your beliefs and
perspectives regarding the situation or dilemma and identify
strategies for building inclusion by synthesizing the varying
perspectives.
Instructions:
This assignment will build upon your accumulated learning
from the course and your written assignments from Weeks 3 and
4. Based on your identified situation or cultural dilemma (from
your Week 4 written assignment), determine a personal position
regarding the topic. Then write a 2800-3500 word paper that:
· Identifies and presents your own attitudes, beliefs, cultural
norms, stereotypes, or biases that you may have, or had in the
past, regarding the topic.
· Presents at least one argument supporting the perspective of
each cultural group involved with the topic.
· Considers how the situation or dilemma may be addressed
moving forward with a mutually beneficial outcome.
This written assignment will include:
· An identified diversity situation or cultural dilemma prevalent
in today’s society that involves more than one cultural group.
(Week 3 written assignment)
· A comparison of the different cultural groups involved. (Week
4 written assignment)
· Personal position regarding the topic. (Week 5 written
assignment)
This written assignment should be double-spaced, and include a

10. title page and references page. Additionally, utilize 5 to 7
resources, including resources provided throughout the course,
to support your arguments. Make sure to gather evidence and
present persuasive, well-reasoned arguments regarding your
topic, and consider all perspectives and opinions.
This Week 5 paper should include all the requirements of the
Weeks 3 and 4 papers and also:
· Identify and present your own attitudes, beliefs, cultural
norms, stereotypes, or biases that you may have, or had in the
past, regarding the topic.
· Present at least one argument supporting the perspective of
each cultural group involved with the topic.
· Consider how the situation or dilemma may be addressed
moving forward with a mutually beneficial outcome.