Manal al-Sharif

Activist

1979-04-25

Quotes by Manal al-Sharif

• I got a text from my husband. "Manal, you are divorced," it read. "Your papers are in the court of Khobar." I was divorced in my absence, just as I had been married.

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• So you're the infamous Manal al-Sharif,— he said, eyeing me from behind his desk. "Aren't you ashamed of what you did?""Is driving a car something shameful?" I answered back.

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• How odd it is that we judge a woman by her clothes and the place she eats lunch and the subjects she talks about with her colleagueson her coffee break, yet we don't judge a man if he doesn't grow his beard or if he works with women or speaks to them. Why do Saudi women allow subjugation to a man and adhere to men's rules and conditions? Why did I?

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• I was lonely, desperate, and angry. At that moment, I truly understood what it meant to be a Saudi woman. It meant being confronted with every possible kind ofobstacle and discrimination. It meant being told that if you want to race with men, you'd have to do it with your hands and legs cut off. I started to wish I had been born somewhere— anywhere— else.

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• This is what happens when the state intervenes in a person's private life; it creates two separate personas. It compels you either to lead two separate lives, or to violate what's imposed on youwhen the state isn't looking.

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• Freedom is to live with dignity

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• The rain begins with a single drop

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• The rain begins with a single drop

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• So you're the infamous Manal al-Sharif,— he said, eyeing me from behind his desk. "Aren't you ashamed of what you did?""Is driving a car something shameful?" I answered back.

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• I got a text from my husband. "Manal, you are divorced," it read. "Your papers are in the court of Khobar." I was divorced in my absence, just as I had been married.

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• How odd it is that we judge a woman by her clothes and the place she eats lunch and the subjects she talks about with her colleagueson her coffee break, yet we don't judge a man if he doesn't grow his beard or if he works with women or speaks to them. Why do Saudi women allow subjugation to a man and adhere to men's rules and conditions? Why did I?

  Read quote

• This is what happens when the state intervenes in a person's private life; it creates two separate personas. It compels you either to lead two separate lives, or to violate what's imposed on youwhen the state isn't looking.

  Read quote

• I was lonely, desperate, and angry. At that moment, I truly understood what it meant to be a Saudi woman. It meant being confronted with every possible kind ofobstacle and discrimination. It meant being told that if you want to race with men, you'd have to do it with your hands and legs cut off. I started to wish I had been born somewhere— anywhere— else.

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• Freedom is to live with dignity

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• When women break that taboo and they're not afraid to drive that car by herself - that's it. Now she has the guts to speak up for herself and take action.

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• I almost got kidnapped trying to find a taxi in the street. In Saudi Arabia, it's not normal for a woman to walk in the street alone, and I don't cover my face, so I am an open target.

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• I always say that countries that keep women in the backseat will always end up on the wrong side of history.

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• I'm just a human being who would not accept being wronged.

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