Saudi Arabian King Abdullah announced today (September 25, 2011) that the nation's women will gain the right to vote and run as candidates in local elections to be held in 2015 in a major advancement for the rights of women, according to the Associated Press website.
The Saudi monarch said he ordered the step after consulting with the nation's top religious clerics, whose advice carries weight in the Islamic kingdom.
The right to vote is by far the biggest change introduced by Abdullah -- considered a reformer -- since he became the country's ruler in 1995.
Women are still not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, and men and women are separated in public.
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