Eleven things women in Saudi Arabia cannot do
Ban on women entering a Starbucks store in Riyadh is latest in long line of restrictions
Other more unusual restrictions include:
- Entering a cemetery
- Reading an uncensored fashion magazine
- Buying a Barbie
- Marry without the consent of a guardian
However, explains Dowd, everything in Saudi Arabia "operates on a sliding scale, depending on who you are, whom you know, whom you ask, whom you're with, and where you are".
But things are slowly beginning to modernise in a country that has historically had some of the most repressive attitudes towards women.
"Women in Saudi Arabia are highly educated and qualified," says Rothna Begum from Human Right Watch. "They don’t want to be left in the dark."
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