A car and motor show is something that tends to attract attention and wide anticipation from all corners of a society. We are in an age where there are more women motorists and a rising tide of women bikers. There’s hardly a doubt about it. In fact, if one were to move the eye in the direction of sports, one would find increasing participation from women in South East Asia and Europe toward rally sports and biking. So it is only normal to expect the presence of quite a number of women when it comes to visiting a moto-expo let alone a showroom.
But then, not every part of the world has countries that think of women and men in the same way, isn’t it? Consider Saudi Arabia, where, until a few months ago, women were banned from driving? No matter how ridiculous that sounds to a receptive, coherent world, that is how it works in Jeddah, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Here, men and women are not always seen together when it comes to visiting a showroom- can you beat that? Chances are, many of us won’t be able to wrap our brains around the fact that recently a women-exclusive car showroom opened inside a shopping mall in Jeddah.
So what on earth is a Women-only showroom? It’s simple, despite being weird: where men can’t hang out with women whilst checking the only other thing that they fancy over women: cars. Women recently rushed to Jeddah’s Le Mall to check the kingdom’s first ever car exhibit aimed at garnering an exclusively-women’s gathering. The event took place with one, singular intent: to give women the freedom to select their own cars before they hit the road. But truth be told, it was a pretty awesome sight to see women sit in the driver’s seat of various vehicles, adjusting their head scarfs and wrapping their hands around steering wheels. The exhibit also unfurled fuel-efficient cars and offered trained saleswomen to help women understand the intricacies and nuances of choosing from a wide bouquet of cars.
That said, there’s a speciality about Jeddah’s Le Mall. Predominantly, all those who work in the western Red Sea port-city’s mall are women. The whole mall is run by women where everyone, whether it is a cashier or an eater, visitor in the restaurants, is a woman. But that said, one wishes to know whether even in this part of the 21st century, Saudi Arabia would continue to keep things gender-separated, even when it comes to leisure and recreational aspects- such as shopping malls.