I’m Aryn Baker, TIME magazine’s Africa Bureau Chief. I’m currently in Saudi Arabia reporting on how women’s lives are changing as the country lifts its ban on female drivers. Ask me anything!

I’ve been reporting for TIME for the past 18 years, and on Africa and the Middle East for the past eight. This week I’m in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to report on the lifting of the ban against women driving, and the radical changes that are happening here under the leadership of the new Crown Prince, Mohammad Bin Salman.

I first went to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2011, when activists started renewing the push for women’s right to drive. I’ve written dozens of stories on Saudi Arabia, including several on the more surprising side of life there, like how to fall in love in Riyadh, what it’s like to be poor in a country that everyone thinks of as rich, and a government decree that finally, finally!, allowed women to work as sales girls in lingerie shops, instead of men. And in 2011, I participated in a protest drive by women fighting for their right to take the steering wheel. My driver was one of the first women in the history of Saudi Arabia to get a traffic violation. Things have changed a lot since then. On Sunday June 24, the longstanding ban against women driving was lifted, a historic day not just for women, but also for a nation that is finally shrugging off antiquated ideas of what women can, and cannot do.

I’ll be taking over TIME’s Reddit account from 12:00-1:00 PM EST today so you can ask me anything about Saudi Arabia, the epic changes the country is going through, and about my first ride with a female Uber driver.

Update: Thanks for joining along, I’ve now finished my AMA and enjoyed your questions – my story in this week’s issue of TIME will cover the ongoing reforms in Saudi Arabia and more.

Proof: https://i.redd.it/6hy9w9eowo511.png

Submitted June 26, 2018 at 08:03AM by timemagazine https://ift.tt/2KjorHU