Driving change

27 June 2011 Last updated at 23:07 GMT By Katy Watson Middle East business reporter, BBC News WATCH: Saudi Arabia's women are forced to rely on men to do the driving - which puts many jobs off-limits, and makes running a business almost impossible

The video shows a young woman getting into her car for a spin around town with a friend. Giggling away, they sound excited yet nervous. And all the while, they comment on the reactions of passers-by.

So far, the story sounds uneventful. After all, millions of women across the world drive every day without a second thought.

Only the difference is, this video was shot by 28-year old Solafa from Saudi Arabia, the only country in the world that bans women from driving.

Driving change

On June 17, dozens of videos similar to Solafa's surfaced on the internet, all showing women behind the wheel in defiance of a ban that is not enforced by law but is a religious fatwa imposed by Muslim clerics.

It was a protest of a different kind - unlike the mass demonstrations that have been seen throughout the region this year, this was a campaign of just 50 women.

But one thing it has in common with the Arab protests is the role social media played.

Through Twitter and Facebook, the 'Women2Drive' campaign gave women a voice for other people to hear. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton openly supported their cause. Even some of the Saudi royals have backed what the women are doing.

Solafa Kurdi uploaded a video of herself driving in Saudi Arabia to YouTube.com

Solafa and her friends joined the campaign to prove a point.

"Being a photographer needs me to be in different places and at different times," says Solafa. "I have to pay around $500 every month just for a driver, when I could do what he's doing myself."

Although Solafa says she can afford that extra cost, it is more of a burden for families where women are paid lower salaries.

"The minimum wage for a Saudi worker is around 3,000 riyals ($800; ?500)," Solafa says. "If you're going to put half of that on a driver, there goes half of your salary, it's almost like paying taxes."

Status update

The likes of Twitter, Facebook and Youtube have enabled the women to challenge the status quo more easily.

A recent report published by the Dubai School of Government examined the role social media has played in the Arab uprising. It found that the percentage of women who used Facebook rose from 32% to 33.5% in the first three months of this year.

A small percentage increase maybe, especially when you consider that on average, women globally constitute 61% of Facebook users. Nevertheless, while the percentage of women users in the Arab world creeps up, the proportion of male Facebook users in the region is falling.

The social media campaign gained a huge international following

Looking at the effect of social media on the region's economy is still in its infancy, according to Fadi Salem, Director of Governance and Innovation at the Dubai School of Government and the co-author of the report. Nevertheless, it does have potential.

"If compared to the emergence of the internet over the last decade and how it contributed to economic development, there are many indicators suggesting that this could be the case as well for social media," says Salem.

"In theory it has this personal characteristic, it has the anonymity, if that's a barrier for some women to participate or start businesses or join a political discussion."

And taking part is crucial for the Gulf's biggest economy.

Working women

More than half of Saudi's university graduates are women.

Last month saw the opening of the world's largest women-only university in Riyadh. But when it comes to the world of work, it is a different story.

According to the International Labour Organisation, in 2009 just 17% of women of working age were in employment in Saudi Arabia. That compares with neighbouring United Arab Emirates where 42% of women work and Qatar, where half the women work.

The proportion of working Saudi women is very low compared to other Gulf countries

Mohammad Al-Qahtani is the head of Saudi Arabia's Civil and Political Rights Association.

He accompanied his wife in the passenger seat on June 17 and says he will make sure his 13-year-old daughter learns to drive too.

"Women's driving is part of it but it's not the whole thing. You have other social restrictions, religious restrictions for women not to work in certain professions," Mohammad says.

"You add all these together and you get this bleak picture of 17% participation, which is one of the lowest in the world."

Even without the full participation of women in the labour market, Saudi Arabia has huge unemployment problems.

One in three people under the age of 25 is jobless in Saudi Arabia. Foreign workers - and that includes the thousands of drivers working for Saudi women - outnumber the Saudi nationals working in the Kingdom.

So what is the solution?

"We should accommodate small and medium sized enterprises, we should create more jobs in the private sectors," says Mohammad.

"If you ask any typical Saudi female businesswoman you get this sense of resentment that she's forced out of her business. She has to hire a male guardian to take care of her business.

"All these restrictions tend to force women to quit their business altogether. It's a big loss not only for them but the economy as a whole."

International assignment

And so many women in Saudi choose to work abroad.

Dr Hibah Shata is a Saudi dentist who has lived in the United Arab Emirates for 10 years.

Business is easier for her in Dubai. The system is set up to encourage women, she says. Nevertheless, she thinks the culture in the region, that emphasises the protection of women, can hold them back.

Dr Hibah Shata has worked in the UAE for 10 years. She says it's much easier to do business there as a woman.

"The woman is with her father and her brother, then her husband and her children, so there is somebody to take care of her all the time, and that's the shelter that the woman has had for so long," Dr Shata says.

"I think that's one of the challenges that women who are trying to be in business and be equal to men face, because men don't take them as seriously.

"They don't see them very independent as they grow up."

Social media seems to be changing that.

Twitter and Facebook accounts are giving more women a voice outside their own home. But they still face opposition from some quarters in giving women the same rights as men.

Turning online campaigns into meaningful political and economic participation is still a way off.

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No change in Bank vote on rates

18 May 2011 Last updated at 09:49 GMT The Bank says inflation could exceed 5% in the coming months Bank of England policymakers voted six to three in favour of keeping rates on hold at a record low of 0.5% this month, minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee's (MPC) May meeting show.

It is the fourth month in a row that three members have voted for a rise.

The MPC said there was a "good chance" inflation would hit 5% this year.

Following the meeting, it emerged that consumer prices inflation had jumped unexpectedly in April to 4.5% - more than double the Bank's 2% target.

It forced the Bank's governor, Mervyn King, to write yet again to the Chancellor, George Osborne, explaining why the target had been overshot by more than one percentage point.

The release of the minutes coincided with better-than-expected unemployment data, which showed the UK jobless total fell by 36,000 in the three months to the end of March to 2.46 million.

The value of sterling fluctuated on currency markets immediately following the minutes and jobs data release, as traders struggled to draw conclusions about the implications for future monetary policy.

But Jonathan Loynes of Capital Economics said the minutes and latest labour market data had done little to change expectations for interest rate movements.

Continue reading the main story MPC Member Mar 2011 Apr 2011 May 2011

Source: Bank of England

* Rate currently 0.5%

** Voted for more quantitative easing

"Admittedly, the committee had not seen yesterday's worse than expected CPI figures at the meeting but, given the forecast in the Inflation Report that inflation will rise to 5% over the coming months, we doubt they would have had much of an impact," he said.

'Substantial uncertainties'

Mr King has said previously that inflation will rise as high as 5%, and will not fall back towards the target level until 2012-13.

This view was confirmed in the minutes, which said inflation was "more likely than not" to remain above target throughout next year.

This was due to "the increase in the standard rate of VAT, higher energy and import prices, and some restoration of companies' profit margins".

"Despite the fall in CPI inflation in March, the most likely near-term path of inflation was markedly higher than at the time of the February Inflation Report," said the MPC minutes.

However, the minutes acknowledged that there was a "wider than usual" range of views on the committee about which way prices are heading.

The inflation outlook remained sensitive to changes in commodity prices, according to the minutes.

Market prices for energy, foods and metals have seen sharp falls in the past few weeks, amid fears over the strength of the global recovery.

The minutes also noted an apparent disagreement over the economy's growth prospects this year.

"There remain substantial uncertainties, and a wider than usual range of views among committee members, regarding the outlook for growth," said the minutes.

Among these uncertainties were the impact of the income squeeze on UK households, the extent and pace of an expected pick-up in exports, and whether the large profits currently being made by some UK companies would be reinvested.

Outgoing member

Andrew Sentance, for whom the 4-5 May meeting was his last on the MPC, again proved its most hawkish member, voting for a half-point rise in rates to 1%.

From next month he will be replaced by former Goldman Sachs economist Ben Broadbent.

Ben Broadbent's appointment introduces an unknown quantity into future MPC decisions

Mr Broadbent is an "unknown quantity" according to the BBC's economics editor, Stephanie Flanders, and it is unclear which way he will vote in future meetings.

Martin Weale and Spencer Dale both again voted for a quarter-point rise in rates to 0.75%, while the other members voted for no change.

US academic Adam Posen was again alone in voting for an increase in the Bank's "quantitative easing" programme of buying up government bonds, wanting to increase the stock of bonds held by ?50bn to ?250bn.

Most commentators expressed little surprise at the repeated voting pattern

"In the highly uncertain environment, it seems the best that MPC members can do is remain in wait-and-see mode," said Hetal Mehta of Daiwa Capital Markets.

However, observers noted that all three of the MPC members who have voted in favour of rate rises continued to do so despite the recent weak growth data.

"The takeaway from this is that [Martin Weale and Spencer Dale] are fairly determined hawks and will be inclined to carry on voting for rises unless there is an even more marked deceleration in growth in the UK," said David Tinsley of National Australia Bank.

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