THE deal between the only country in the world that bans female drivers and Silicon Valley’s ride-sharing company Uber Technologies may be as unusual as it is convenient. What’s sure is that it’s caused outrage among many Saudi women.

They are angry that Uber’s new $3.5 billion investment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund not only means the government directly profits from the ban, but also it effectively — in their view — endorses the country’s no-women-behind-the-wheel policy. The investment is part of the ultra-conservative Gulf country’s steps toward making money from things other than oil.

But it raised hackles on social media, where women posted pictures showing them deleting Uber apps from their phones.Uber has operated in Riyadh since 2014, and along with another service, Careem, is popular with Saudi women, who have sought the right to drive for more than two decades. They are forced to pay chauffeurs, most of them foreigners, or rely on male members of the family to drive them.

The deal with Uber, the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s highest-profile overseas investment yet, is part of a transformation programme to wean the Saudi economy off oil. The official Saudi Press Agency reported the transaction without saying how it will impact the ban on driving. Officials could not be reached during the Saudi weekend.

—By arrangement with Bloomberg-The Washington Post

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2016