It was a milestone sixty years in the making.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has long been the only country that bars women from obtaining driver’s licenses. The ultra-conservative monarchy instituted the ban in 1957, during the reign of King Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, on the grounds that women driving risked contravening traditional religious values. But last week we learned that this restriction would soon be a thing of the past.

On September 26, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud issued a decree announcing that the monarchy will, starting next June, begin issuing licenses to women. It’s unclear whether there will be special restrictions on driving privileges, though the decree stipulates that women will be permitted to obtain licenses without getting approval from a male guardian, allaying any concerns that the kingdom’s restrictive “guardianship” laws might undermine the new policy. And a Saudi spokesman made it clear that Saudi women would be able to receive a license at age eighteen, just like Saudi men.