RIYADH: Online taxi-hailing service Uber will give Saudi Arabian women lifts to polling stations for free to help boost female participation at the first elections in the deeply conservative Islamic kingdom open to female voters.
Saudi Arabian women are both running for election and voting for the first time in local elections in what is viewed as a pigeon step towards gender equality in the autocratic nation where women are still legally barred from driving.
The free service to take women to vote is a joint effort between U.S.-based tech company Uber and Al-Nahda Philanthropic Society for Women, a Saudi women’s empowerment group.
