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Al-Sharif, Manal. Daring to Drive: A Saudi Women's Awakening. Simon and Schuster, 2017.

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This is a picture of Manal in recent years, she went on to move to Sydney, were she continues to reside today.

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Manal was born in her house since her dad was out when her mom went into labor. According to Saudi law, a woman is not allowed to be admitted to a hospital without her male guardian's presence.
"I was born on the floor of our cramped apartment in the city of Mecca on April 25, 1979" (35).

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Manal was allowed to register for school at the age of 7. She was very excited to be able to go to school, but even more, than her, her mother was ecstatic to be able to send her daughter to school

"The first day that l could be registered, my mother dressed me all in white, a white hairband, white dress, and white shoes".(67)

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This is an image of Manal and her family, during her childhood.

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Manal first starts her menstrual cycle, something that had been deemed shameful in her society.

"I was thirteen years old, an intermediate school student, when the blood finally came" (87).

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Manal had ultimately chosen to go to King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. This was where her mother wanted for her to pursue medicine.
"The only choice left was King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah" (119).

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This is image shows King Abdulaziz University where Manal got her degree from.

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On the 23rd of June in 2000 women in Saudi Arabia were given permission to receive their own personal identification (Id). Soon after Manal got one of her own.

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In 2002 Manal graduated from University. She had first-class honors and a high grade point average

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Manal left her parent and moved to Dammam, where she was going to live and be working at Aramco.

"On the morning of Wednesday, October 9, 2002, my parents saw me off at the Jeddah airport, and l promised them that l would live up to their expectations" (149).

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This picture is of the Aramco facility in Saudi Arabia.

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Manal first meets K. at Aramco, insistently she feel something like never before. This was also the time they began to meet each other in private and had regular phone calls.

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Manal married her secret lover, despite the continuous arguments between their relationship. Going into the marriage Manal had many doubts relating to K.'s tendency to be controlling.

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Manals first son was born on October 30, 2005. His name was Abdalla and his father was K.

"At dawn on October 30, 2005, our son Abdalla (Aboudi, L called him) was born in Jeddah". (181)

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During the holiest months of the year, Manal was finally divorced. Even though this was done in her absence similar to her marriage. (185)

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When Manal went came to America, one of her first missions for herself was to get a drivers License. For her this was a big deal and her first taste of Freedom.

"I waited two weeks and my first driver's license cam in the mail, granted by the state of New Hampshire". (198)

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Manal decided to come out and make a video to help promote the Women2Drive  movement. This video was the first place where she became know. Also later leading to her troubles.

"I selected May 19, just a month shy of the June 17 Women2Drive day, as the day to make my video". (221)

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This is a Huffpost article sharing Manal's infamous video that she shot before the movement.

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Manal al-Sharif, the Saudi Arabian woman who sparked a protest movement when she defied the ban on women drivers with a YouTube video of herself behind the wheel, has been called the Rosa Parks of her country.

But don't call her an activist.

Al-Sharif, honored Friday in Beverly Hills, Calif., at a Women In The World luncheon hosted by former Daily Beast editor Tina Brown, said she resents the label. The annual event, begun in 2009, aims at "telling unknown stories of the women who live behind the lines of the news."

"To me, if you see something wrong, you have to speak up," al-Sharif said in an interview with Brown on stage. "Labeling people who speak up against horrible things makes other people not want to be labeled," she explained. "So I'm totally against the word. I'm just a human being who would not accept being wronged."

Al-Sharif, a columnist, blogger and women's rights advocate, told the luncheon audience of mostly female media and entertainment figures the harrowing story of her 2011 YouTube video.

"I almost got kidnapped trying to find a taxi in the street," she said. "In Saudi Arabia, it's not normal for a woman to walk in the street alone, and I don't cover my face, so I am an open target. I was walking at 9 p.m. trying to find a taxi for a ride home, and someone followed me and I had to throw a stone at this guy to protect myself. That was very defining for me. So many things lead to other things," including the video.

Saudi law bans all women from driving, so her video ignited a storm of conversation -- not just in her country, but all over the world.

"I had no clue when I posted that video online that what happened would happen," she said. "It was part of a movement called Women2Drive. I had no clue it would be a trending video that day on YouTube and that it would put me in jail," al-Sharif said.

"It got a lot of talk. I remember one guy from Australia commented on the video asking why everyone was watching this video! Because it was me speaking in Arabic and it hadn't been translated. It was just me driving.

"The government stayed very quiet while the whole country went really crazy over this video. 'How could she dare to drive and post it online?' they said. I was very anxious about what the government was going to do."

While waiting, al-Sharif got into a car with her brother and drove past a police car. "They called the religious police, I was taken into interrogation and then they let me go. But they came again to my house at 2 a.m. and took me to jail," she said. She spent the next nine days in prison.

"It was shocking even to the people who were against me -- those who hated me for driving. Because even though I had broken the law, I was a mother and they were really shocked and mad at the government for putting me in jail. So they started a petition. The whole world knew about it. The news traveled to Japan, Malaysia, India, you name it. Everyone knew that I was the woman arrested for driving a car."

Al-Sharif explained that Saudi clerics believe allowing women to drive will lead to broken marriages, low birth rates and adultery.

"Nothing pisses off Saudi men or religious people like a woman behind the driving wheel," she said. "It was very interesting because you can talk about women's rights all your life, but nothing will bring attention to the issue like this video a woman driving. One religious opinionist said a woman driving will damage her ovaries. So now it's not just religious -- it's scientific!"

The mythology of women in the Saudi culture goes much deeper than the ban on driving. "In Saudi Arabia, they always tell us we are queens. We are pistachios. You know the nut? Like something that is protected. So even if you have a very good education, restraints are put on women. It's like saying, 'I know you have feet, God gave you feet, but I'm going to cut them off and put you in a wheelchair -- and wherever you want to go, I will take you,'" said al-Sharif.

"I went to a technology conference in Germany and there were these beautiful, model-like women standing there in front of the products. I asked a question and she had no clue what the product was. She had to call someone from the back to explain it to me. To me, that's using a woman as an object. To me, that's totally wrong."

She continued: "In Saudi Arabia, it's the opposite side. It's demonizing the woman. Her body is demonized. She is told not to use her body. Both ways are totally extreme. There should be some moderate way."

Al-Sharif's defiance has inspired change in her country. More women are now driving.

"If we keep quiet, nothing will change," al-Sharif said. "And usually the regimes are very comfortable unless you shake the ground under them. What you do is keep shaking the ground."

Tina Brown and Women In The World will celebrate its fifth anniversary in April in New York City. Learn more here.

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Manal al-Sharif May Be Saudi Arabia's Most Awesome Woman

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Manal al-Sharif, the Saudi Arabian woman who sparked a protest movement when she defied the ban on women drivers with a YouTube video of herself behind the wheel, has been called the Rosa Parks of her country. But don't call her an activist.

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On May 22 2011 Manal was arrested. She already been detained the prior day, but was released soon after.

"I was being sent to jail". (21)

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After 9 days of being in the women's prison Manal was set free. Her stay was far longer than she had expected. But after coming out Manal was able to see the product of her arrest.

"At 5:00 p.m. that same day, Monday, May 30, 2011, I was called from my cell and escorted to the guards' room". (261)

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While her time at Aramco Manal met a Brazilian man named Rafael. They both fell in love and ended up marrying each other. After the complex tactics to get married. Manal moved to Dubai with Rafael, where is started a company.

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In 2014 Manal gave birth to her second son, with her second husband Rafael. But both her son were not allowed to see each other for various reasons. This is one of her deepest regrets in her life.

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Manal's mother left this world in early 2016. She died from Lung Cancer, which had been diagnosed the year before. But her mom was as tough as ever before she left and died happily.

"On February 28, 2016, she took her last breath".(279)

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In twenty 2017, the day Manal had worked towards for her whole life finally came. It was announced that Saudi Arabia was lifting the ban on women driving for good. This was one of Manal's highest moments and she was instantly put to work giving interviews on this historic moment.

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This is an article on ted.com that talks about Manal and her journey. Manal had gone on to give a Ted Talk.

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As usual, the TED community has lots of news to share this week. Below, some highlights. A MacArthur for Rhiannon Giddens and Kate Orff. On October 11, the MacArthur Foundation released their list of 2017 Fellows. Among them are musician Rhiannon Giddens and landscape architect Kate Orff. Giddens, known for her rich reinterpretations of American [...]

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Please enjoy your roundup of TED-related news: Prosthetics that feel more natural. A study in Science Robotics lays out a surgical technique developed by Shriya Srinivasan, Hugh Herr and others that may help prosthetics feel more like natural limbs. During an amputation, the muscle pairs that allow our brains to sense how much force is [...]

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Two years ago, as she put her 5-year-old son Aboody to bed, Manal Al-Sharif faced an unexpected question from him: "Mommy, are we bad people?" Earlier in the day, she had noticed bruises on his face. He didn't want to tell her why. Now, in the evening, he confessed that boys at school had hit him [...]

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As usual, the TED community has lots of news to share this week. Below, some highlights. A MacArthur for Rhiannon Giddens and Kate Orff. On October 11, the MacArthur Foundation released their list of 2017 Fellows. Among them are musician Rhiannon Giddens and landscape architect Kate Orff.

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In March of 2017 Manal and Rafael came to the conclusion that they just weren't right for each other. But their separation was easy and they remained friends after. Rafael continued to support Manal throughout her working on this book.