Persuasive Speech

Speech 2

Strive to Lift the Ban on Women Driving

I. Introduction:

A. Attention Getter/Relating subject to audience: Good evening. How many of you have been part of a Human Rights campaign in their life? What good does it do? Through these advocacy groups we are trying to influence public opinion and even policy. According to the UN Human Rights Council, a 2013 publication, announced about 400 Human rights organizations in the world.

B. Orienting Material:

1. Introduce topic clearly: Today, I will be addressing the effective use of lobbying in an attempt to lift the ban on women driving in KSA.

2. Establish Credibility: Major world policies that tackled societal discrimination and equality, all started off with public protests and campaigns. For instance gay marriage today, look how far they've reached.

C. Thesis/Topic Statement: Lobbying as a means of public advocacy aims to directly influence decisions made by legislators and government officials in the traffic sector.

D. Preview: I will be speaking to you this evening about

1. First main point: the need to lift the ban.

2. Second main point: how to lift the ban.

3. Third main point: and the practicality in our means of approach.

II. Body:

A. Main point #1:

Let me remind you that the KSA is a strictly conservative society solely centralized on the segregation of men and women. Let me also remind you that there isn't a written legislation banning women from driving but however, women are not issued driving licenses, making it effectively illegal for them to drive without licenses. The ban was based to avoid social mixing and male interactions in the kingdom.

On a social perspective, women have been affected drastically by this ban. Did you hear about the woman who couldn't drive to save her life? In a 2011 article by Maureen Dowd called "Camel's Nose Under the Wheel?" from the NY times, Manal AlSharif couldn't catch a cab to get home to her 5 year old son or get away from male drivers harassing her as she walked alone. I'm quoting "And I was crying like a kid in the street because I couldn't find someone to pick me up to take me back home."

On another note, lifting the ban would have a significant economic impact on the kingdom as well. As a middle eastern myself, I know that the average Saudi family has at least one foreign chauffer in every household. According to William Staff, a 2013 article from Emirates News, Saudi billionaire Prince Al Waleed said allowing women to drive would lay off nearly 500,000 foreign private drivers. This is an economic advantage due to budget easing and the reallocation of household expenditure.

Clearly you can see the social impact of this ban on women, and its financial drain on private households.

B. Main Point #2:

This isn't a law we are trying to change. This is a fight against social oppression and reshaping the general society perspective. So what do we do? What can we do? The policy I'm proposing this evening is lobbying. Lobbying by definition is a type of contemptuous public advocacy we need to adopt when people with inordinate socioeconomic power cause an implication. In particular, The Grand Mufti (Islamic Pope) and King Abdullah (octogenarian ruler) are the highest officials here responsible for this ban. With a closed society of minimal public power such as the KSA, their reach is essential.