Saudi leaders have commended the appointment of six women to the Shura Council, which oversees the implementation of Islamic laws and values, and are calling for women to be allowed to drive in the conservative Muslim country.
Women are needed to decide various issues, especially concerning families, said Sheikh Azeb bin Saeed Aal Mesbil, head of the Islamic affairs and judiciary committee at the Shura Council, daily Saudi Gazette reported on Thursday.
"It should be borne in mind that the life of our society has changed and so we at the council need to seek the opinions of experts, be they men or women. We need to listen to women on social and family issues," Aal Mesbil said.
Saudi Arabia regularly comes under fire globally for its strict values based on an austere form of Sunni Islam, which does not allow unmarried men and women to mix
Some senior clerics have recently called for women to be banned from the media and other forms of art. There is also a ban on women drivers.
But a leading Islamic thinker and former government minister has said women drivers are a necessity.
"What is best?" Mohammed Abdo Yamani questioned in a recent interview. "That we let women drive cars in safety or that we sit them next to male foreign drivers who might harm them?"
Another leader told a Saudi newspaper: "Driving has become a necessity for Saudi women. It is their right to drive - at least in cities and safe areas."