For the first time in the history of Saudi Arabia –and in less than a week from now— women will be able to drive across the Kingdom’s border to neighboring Bahrain on their own without their male guardians.

Saudi Ambassador to Bahrain, Abdullah bin Abdulmalik Al Sheikh, reviled in a newspaper interview that “Saudi women will have the right to independently cross the border driving their cars into Bahrain via King Fahd Causeway on June 24, and Bahraini women can visit by car to Saudi Arabia and drive across its territory without being accompanied by men starting next Sunday.” as reported by Sputnik News.

Throughout the years, countless human rights activists and institutions have repeatedly, and often harshly, criticized Saudi Arabia’s discrimination against women. Including the male guardianship system which requires each woman to have a male guardian – a father, brother, husband, or even a son – to make a range of critical decisions on her behalf limiting women’s freedom to extreme extinct.

The decision comes as part of a trend in easing the social restrictions in the kingdom launched by Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman. In March the kingdom hosted their first women’s marathon, in September of last year, women were finally permitted to drive, and in the beginning of this year, they have been allowed to attend football matches.