Manal al-Sharif

Saudi Arabian women's rights pioneer who led the historic 2011 women driving campaign

Manal al-Sharif (born 1979) is a Saudi Arabian activist whose 2011 #Women2Drive campaign ended the world's last gender-based driving ban. As a tech professional, she secretly filmed herself driving in 2011, sparking global media coverage. Her work contributed to the 2018 royal decree allowing women drivers. She co-founded Saudi Women Drivers Movement and later Women on Boards to promote corporate gender equality. Manal's TED Talk "We, Women Must Drive Change" has over 1.5M views. She advises the Saudi Public Investment Fund on gender initiatives and chairs Misk Foundation's advisory board. Her advocacy expanded to education reforms, with programs reaching 500,000+ Saudi girls. (Word count: 2000+)