As some of you may have seen, Saudi Arabia has slowly but surely been shifting in various ways from total religious strictness towards more liberalism especially when it comes to women.

Headlines and stories like this one would not have been possible 10 or 20 years ago: https://www.dw.com/en/saudi-arabias-thriving-startup-scene-driven-by-women/a-68569509

Now they even have a women's football league with many foreigners playing it in: https://www.forbes.com/sites/assiletoufaily/2024/03/15/al-nassr-are-the-20232024-saudi-womens-premier-league-champions/?sh=12bfc4a8c34a

I was just wondering, how did this all start and how did they manage to get it done in spine of the numerous strict religious clerics fighting to keep the status quo going in particular with regard to women's rights? Obviously a lot of this is virtue signalling to please the West and not necessarily progress coming from a genuine shift in mentality but still the progress is there and it's undeniable.

P.S. If you're going to bash Islam, please refrain from commenting. I'm not here to have a theological debate with you or tell you about how "terrible" Islam is. I'm Muslim and I totally denounce and disagree with any form of radicalism within the religion. And don't get me wrong, Saudi Arabia is still for the most part a religious theocracy which I have no interest in ever living in.