She's so young, but in Saudi Arabia, you can drive as a boy as young as 14 years old. On how her protest helped inspire others to drive Most of them don't even know how to drive! My first driver, I had to teach him how to drive.

The private sector itself in Saudi Arabia, 90 percent of the people working there are non-Saudis, so also the contradictions here make me mad, because you don't allow me to mix with Saudis or men in general all my life, but then you enforce a perfect stranger to be living in my house, to be driving my own car and have my own phone number. Parallels Saudi Women Still Can't Drive, But They Are Making It To Work 'It should be the norm, not the exception.' Her new memoir is Daring to Drive. Though she is no longer in Saudi Arabia, Sharif remains outspoken about women's rights: 'When I see something wrong, I speak up,' she says of her advocacy on behalf of Saudi women. She now lives in Sydney, Australia, with her second husband and son. Initially arrested for driving, Sharif was released when her story elicited outrage from around the world. Sharif describes driving as an act of civil disobedience: 'For me, driving - or the right to drive - is not only about moving from A to B it's a way to emancipate women,' she says.

Ordinarily such a video might not get much notice, but because it's not socially acceptable for women to drive in Saudi Arabia, where there is a de facto ban, Sharif's video went viral. Manal al-Sharif's path to activism began simply enough: In 2011, the Saudi woman filmed herself driving a car, then uploaded the video to YouTube. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Daring to Drive Subtitle A Saudi Woman's Awakening Author Manal Al-sharif

Daring to drive