According to the Evening Standard, the country now has an extensive waiting list of women wanting to take driving lessons – with many relying on fathers and brothers to teach them.

In another historic feat, Aseel Al Hamad, the first female member of the Saudi Arabian Motorsport Federation, drove a Formula One car ahead of the French Grand Prix.

“I believe today is not just celebrating the new era of women starting to drive, it’s also the birth of women in motor sport in Saudi Arabia,” Hamad told Reuters.

“The most important thing I am looking forward to is to start seeing the next generation, young girls, trying [motor sport]. I want to watch them training and taking the sport very seriously as a career. This is going to be really my biggest achievement.”

The World Economic Forum’s 2016 Global Gender Gap report scored the kingdom at 141 out of 145 countries – which is due, in part, to the fact that women must have the permission of a male guardian to work, study, travel or marry. Many women in the kingdom may no longer have to rely on men for getting from one place to the next, but under the country’s strict guardianship system women still have to seek the permission of a male family member to be able to do many other things.

In recent months the very conservative kingdom has undergone multiple changes. The changes come as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 programme which aims to broaden Saudi’s economy and lessen its dependency on oil.

You can read more on all of the things women in the Gulf kingdom still can’t do here.

Images: Getty

Powerful posts and celebratory quotes from Saudi women as they drive off