Saudi women get their say

News just in: Women in Saudi Arabia will now be entitled to vote and run in municipal elections. Fantastic news! It is going to be a very gradual process of liberalisation in Saudi Arabia, and I don't expect Saudi women to succeed in their bid to drive any time soon, but this is a positive change and hopefully the beginning of many more changes that will see women in Saudi Arabia gain more freedom and independence. The new term of the Shura council (the formal advisory body to the king) saw King Abdullah announce the move to allow women the vote. Allowing women to join the Shura council could lead to reforms that will favour the female representative voice in the country. As a former resident of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, this is a change that excites me, to see how much the country has grown, and the potential it has to adapt and modernise its traditional ways of thinking.