:: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has issued a historic royal decree granting driving licenses for women in the kingdom as of next June.

The royal decree issued on Tuesday also ordered the establishment of a high-level committee of involving the ministries of internal affairs, finance, labor and social development. They will be tasked with studying the arrangements of the edict within 30 days and to ensure the full implementation of the order by June 2018.

“The royal decree will implement the provisions of traffic regulations, including the issuance of driving licenses for men and women alike,” the Saudi Press Agency said.

“This is a great victory for many Saudi women. This was the one file and issue which Saudi women have fought not just years, but decades for. Every time we asked, we were told the time was not right. When we asked those previous from this men and women who said we didn’t need to drive, King Salman,” Latifa Shaalan, a Saudi female member of Saudi Arabia’s Shoura Council, told Al Arabiya.

In a Tweet United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres welcomed the decision as well as the US State Department commended the Kingdom on the move, calling it a positive step.

Economic impact

“This will have a huge impact on Saudi Arabia’s economy. We have to remember that our kingdom produces more female graduates compared to our male counterparts,” Ghada Ghunaim, Saudi writer and journalist told Al Arabiya.

In Saudi Arabia, most families depend on private drivers to personally help transport their female relatives to school, work and other places.

According to the latest statistics, there are nearly 800,000 men, most from South Asia, who work solely as drivers to Saudi women.

Ghunaim told News Agency Tuesday’s royal decree will inevitably also help poor and middle-class families.

“A lot of families in Saudi Arabia are not able to afford paying a driver a monthly salary, this royal decree will help ease a lot of families who struggle with their women not being able to drive,” she added.

Women to drive in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday said it would allow women to drive in the Kingdom, in the latest move in a string of social and economic reforms underway in the country.

King Salman issued the decree, according to a royal court statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

“The royal decree will implement the provisions of traffic regulations, including the issuance of driving licenses for men and women alike,” the SPA said.

The decree orders the formation of a ministerial body to give advice on the practicalities of the edict within 30 days and to ensure the full implementation of the order by June 2018.

The move was announced on television and also by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Saudi Arabia allows women to drive,” the ministry confirmed on Twitter.

The decree referred to the “negative effects of not allowing women to drive vehicles, and the positive effects envisaged from allowing them to do so” within the context of Islamic laws.

The prohibition is considered a social issue in the Kingdom, as there is no actual law or religious edict that prohibits it.

For years, the topic has been the center of extensive debate in government, media and social circles.

‘Huge step’

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US, Prince Khaled bin Salman, described the decision of allowing women to drive as a “huge step.”

“It’s not just a social change, it’s part of economic reform,” he said. “Our leadership believes this is the right time to do this change because in Saudi Arabia, we have a young, dynamic open society.”

The ambassador said women will not need to get permission from legal guardians to get a license.

Furthermore, if a woman has a driver’s license in another Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country, she’s allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, he said.

King Salman