In 2011, Abdullah, the king of Saudi Arabia at the time, granted Saudi Arabian women the legal right to vote in 2015. Previously, women in Saudi Arabia could not vote or run for office. Although this was an important step in women's rights in the country, Saudi women are still not able to do many things. As of 2015, Saudi women cannot drive and they need permission from their husband or another male guardian to work, marry or divorce. They are also required to have a male chaperone to leave their house and travel.
Before Saudi women were given suffrage, Saudi Arabia was the only place in the world, aside from Vatican City, that did not allow women to vote.
More about Saudi Arabia:
- King Abdullah Bin Abd el-Aziz Al Saud was king of Saudi Arabia between 2005 and 2015.
- Desert makes up over 95% of Saudi Arabia.
- "Winston's Hiccup" is a segment of Saudi land named after a legend that Winston Churchill accidentally gave Saudi Arabia some Jordanian land due to a hiccup that caused his hand to slip when drawing boundaries of Jordan and Saudi Arabia on a map.