Wajeha al-Huwaider (Arabic: وجيهة الحويدر) (born 1962 or 1963) is a Saudi activist and writer, who played a key role in the anti male-guardianship[1] and women to drive[2] campaigns during the early twenty-first century.
[6] Over the course of her tenure, she covered progressive policy topics like strengthening women's rights and improving the treatment of Saudi Arabia's Shia Muslim minority.
[8] Following this, Al-Huwaider began to work for a number of pro free-speech Pan-Arab media sites[9] where she became internationally renowned for writing about women's rights.
[10] Before she was released, al-Huwaider was forced to sign a statement agreeing to cease all human rights activism and banned from travelling outside Saudi Arabia.
[2][12] Al-Huwaider also campaigned against the mahram or guardianship laws that give male kin control over women's daily lives, including permission to travel outside the home.
[16] In 2017, Wajeha Al-Huwaider received renewed international attention when King Salman of Saudi Arabia officially announced a lifting of the driving ban on women.
[19] In 2004, Wajeha Al-Huwaider received the "Oxfam Novib/PEN Free Expression award" in Hague, presented to journalists in the international community who have faced prosecution for their work.
[20] As a result of her campaign work, Al-Huwaider was featured in CSPAN's annual "Women in the World Summitt" in 2011 to discuss the gender disparities present in Saudi Arabia.