Saudi women outside a polling place after voting — Reuters/Faisal Al Nasser

❝Saudi Arabians voted 17 women into public office in municipal elections in the conservative Islamic kingdom on Saturday, the first to allow female participation, a state-aligned news site reported on Sunday before all official results were announced.

The election was the first in which women could vote and run as candidates, a landmark step in a country where women are barred from driving and are legally dependent on a male relative to approve almost all their major life decisions.

❝Sabq.org, a news website affiliated with the autocratic monarchy’s Interior Ministry, reported that a total of 17 women had been elected in various parts of the country. Some results had been announced on the official Saudi Press Agency, including the victories of four women.

Worth recording as a significant beginning. One that many thought they would never see.