Sept. 27: Saudi Arabia's decision to allow women to drive for the first time marks a leap forward for human rights in the ultraconservative country.

King Salman issued the order in a decree last night, catching his subjects by surprise. It is the only place where women are banned from driving. A committee would study the issue and the reform would take effect next June.

Women were banned from driving because conservatives argued that it would lead to promiscuity. One cleric even suggested that driving would damage women's ovaries.

Saudis credited the young and recently promoted crown prince for the reform. Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 31, who was made heir apparent in June, has long been regarded as a progressive force. He had hinted that he would be willing to drop the driving ban.

Saudi men and women took to social media to congratulate the ageing king. "We did it," tweeted Manal al-Sharif, an activist who started the women's campaign to drive in 2011 and has been jailed several times.

Despite trying to cultivate a more modern image in recent years, the driving ban had been a longstanding stain on Saudi Arabia's international image.

The royal decree ordered the formation of a ministerial body to give advice within 30 days and then implement the order by June 24, 2018, according to state news agency SPA.

It stipulated that the move must "apply and adhere to the necessary Sharia standards". It gave no details but said a majority of the Council of Senior Religious Scholars, Saudi Arabia's top clerical body, had approved its permissibility.

For more than 25 years, women activists have campaigned to be allowed to drive, defiantly taking to the road, petitioning the king and posting videos of themselves behind the wheel on social media. The protests brought them arrest and harassment.

Latifa al-Shaalan, a member of the Shura Council, an advisory body, said the decision would strengthen women's employment in the private sector.

"This is an historic day and I cannot find the words to express my feelings and the feelings of thousands of Saudi women," she said on Arabiya TV.

An hour after the official announcement in Saudi Arabia, a jubilant Saudi ambassador to Washington, Prince Khaled bin Salman, said it was "an historic and big day in our kingdom".

"I think our leadership understands that our society is ready. I think it's the right decision at the right time," the ambassador said.

Prince Khaled said women would not need permission from their guardians to get a licence or have a guardian in the car and would be allowed to drive anywhere in the kingdom, including the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

Women with a licence from any of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries would be allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, he added. He said the interior ministry would have to decide whether they could be professional drivers.

Positive reactions quickly poured in from inside the kingdom and around the world.

The US state department welcomed the move as "a great step in the right direction".

President Donald Trump commended the decision, the White House said in a separate statement that pledged US support for a plan the kingdom announced last year for economic and social reforms.

"This is a positive step towards promoting the rights and opportunities of women in Saudi Arabia," the White House statement said. "We will continue to support Saudi Arabia in its efforts to strengthen Saudi society and the economy through reforms like this and the implementation of Saudi Vision 2030."

Women will, however, continue to be subjected to a crushing guardianship system that forces them to seek permission from male relatives to do everything from opening a bank account to travelling and even medical treatment.

"In terms of international PR, this is the biggest overnight win that Saudi Arabia - and particularly MBS (Mohammed bin Salman) - could possibly have," said Jane Kinninmont, senior research fellow at Chatham House, a think tank based in London.

The position of Saudi women gradually improved under late King Abdullah and since King Salman took over in 2015, the kingdom has been opening more areas for women through the government's modernising reforms.

That has sparked tensions with influential clerics upon whose support the ruling family relies.

Not all Saudis were delighted with the announcement. One man called Raig tried to start a hashtag titled "You Shall Not Drive".

Critics took to Twitter to denounce the decision, accusing the government of "bending the verses of Sharia".

"As far as I remember, Sharia scholars have said it was haram (forbidden) for women to drive. How come it has suddenly become halal (permissible)?" another user wrote.

Asked whether he was worried about a conservative backlash, Prince Khaled said: "On these changes some people will be in the driver's seat... some people will be in the back seat, but we're all going to move forward."

He added: "It's not women must drive, it's women can drive. So if any woman do not want to drive in Saudi Arabia, that's her choice."

Crown Prince Mohammed has become the face of reform in the kingdom in the past few years.

Many younger Saudis regard his ascent as evidence that their generation is taking a central place in running a country whose patriarchal traditions have for decades made power the province of the old and blocked women's progress.