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Umm Ebrahim drives her vehicle in Riyadh in defiance of the law. The interior ministry banned Saudi women from driving after a 1990 mass protest in cars. Aziza Al Yousuf said she took a 15-minute drive in the Saudi capital on Friday, June 29, 2012 to mark the first anniversary of a campaign to end the ban on women drivers in the kingdom Image Credit: Reuters

London: Hillary Rodham Clinton has supported Saudi women who last week defied their kingdom’s ban on female driving.

The former US secretary of state told an event in London: “I’m all for it. It is an issue that is symbolic.” She added that the ban is “hard to even rationalise” in today’s world.

Clinton was speaking at London’s Chatham House international affairs think tank on Friday. The organisation awarded her its annual Chatham House Prize to recognise her contribution to international diplomacy and her work in furthering gender equality.

Previous winners of the prize include Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi and former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.