For several weeks now, a small number of women have been getting behind the wheel of their family cars in defiance of the kingdom’s traditional ban on female driving. These sporadic acts of civil disobedience are part of a renewed campaign against the ban meant to climax on Saturday, Oct. 26, with scores, or as organizers hope, maybe even hundreds, of women taking to the road.

It's the third time in recent memory that Saudi female activists have publicly protested the driving ban. While they do not expect the government to rescind the ban in response to their actions, some say they see an encouraging shift in both social attitudes and official statements, as well as new government-sanctioned opportunities for women, that together point to a growing acceptance of women driving.

Whether this eventually leads to a formal lifting of the ban, or a de facto disregard for it as increasing numbers of women drivers turn up on Saudi streets, remains to be seen.

“Things are looking brighter for Saudi women,” said Tamador Alyami, a 34-year-old writer and mother of two in Jeddah who has had a California driving license since 1999 and plans to drive on Saturday. “There are a lot of things going on that make us hopeful and optimistic that this time it is going to be different. “