Saudi activist Manal Al Sharif, who now lives in Dubai, flashes the sign for victory as she drives her car in solidarity with Saudi women preparing to take to the wheel on Saturday.

Saudi activist Manal Al Sharif, who now lives in Dubai, flashes the sign for victory as she drives her car in solidarity with Saudi women preparing to take to the wheel on Saturday. Photo: AFP

Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry has issued a stern warning to women gearing up to defy the world's only ban on female drivers. A group known as the 26th October Women's Driving Campaign, has called on the government to provide ''a valid and legal justification'' for maintaining the ban, and ''not simply defer to social consensus''.

More than 16,000 people signed an online petition supporting the campaign. The ministry fired back that the laws would be enforced and instability would not be permitted.

King Abdullah has expanded the rights of women, but has not moved fast enough to satisfy many people.

However, the king, who has to contend with opposition from traditionalist clerics, opened the first co-educational university, named the first female deputy minister and said women could vote and run in municipal elections from 2015.

''We should feel insulted if someone says we are not ready for this change or that women cannot do this,'' said May al-Suwayan, a 32 year-old economics researcher who is planning to drive as part of the protest. ''I think it's a matter of fear of change, which will easily be overcome if women show them that we are ready.''

A group of religious men rallied outside the Royal Court in Jeddah on Monday, calling the right-to-drive movement a ''conspiracy'' against the government, al-Hayat newspaper reported.

A Saudi cleric, Sheikh Saleh bin Saad al-Luhaidan, told the Sabq website last month that Saudi women should not drive because they risked damaging their ovaries.

Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of the austere Wahhabi form of Islam, which insists women need a guardian's consent to travel outside the country, marry or conduct official business.

But chief investment strategist at MASIC in Saudi Arabia John Sfakianakis said economic pressure may help open Saudi roads to women. The cost of employing a driver ''is a burden on middle-class purchasing power, and that could be addressed if women are allowed to drive'', Dr Sfakianakis said.

Fawziah al-Hani, a 50-year-old social worker from Safwa, in Eastern Province, said she had broader concerns.

''I'm not fighting for my rights alone, I'm fighting for my children's,'' she said. ''Some of my daughters are studying abroad. They call me sometimes and tell me they don't want to come back to Saudi Arabia.''

Bloomberg