Wajd Tameem rejoiced when she watched King Abdullah give Saudi women the right to vote in a speech Sunday, Sept. 25. “This was really a surprise, very shocking news – not shocking in a bad way, shocking in a good way,” Tameem said Thursday evening in a conference room in the Student and Convocation Center.The news of women getting the right to vote and run in the 2015 municipal election also pleased Tameem’s mother back in Saudi Arabia.”My mom is so happy because my mom is a business woman in Saudi Arabia. She always defends women, and she goes on TV on interviews and she always talks about how women should take leading roles,” Tameem said.Tameem hopes to follow in her mother’s foot steps by taking on a leading role in the future. Now that this new rule is in place she has hope that one day it will happen.”I would love to become someone one day and … show them that women can be in leading roles and they can be better, maybe,” Tameem said.The move for Saudi women to vote arrives in the mist of  Saudi women activists fighting for their rights, which includes the right to drive, as well as the right to vote. This particular change will also allow women to be appointed to the Shura Council, a group that discuss issues and policies and is currently all male, according to NPR.org.Some women feel that the move for women to have the right to vote undermines the importance of other women’s issues, one being the right for women to drive.Abrar Al Mubarak, who was born in Saudi Arabia, shares her view on the changes made Sunday.”Regarding women’s right to vote and to be elected, I think it’s a very important step […] in our Saudi culture. It’s an almost transforming stage because lately there has been a lot of women activists regarding women driving,” Almubaran said on a Friday afternoon in the lobby outside of the George Rowland White performance space. “A lot of women have be very active with different issues asking for their rights. I don’t think the right to vote was one of them. It’s not that big of a deal like women driving, for example.”Al Mubarak sees the new regulation as a step in the right direction and a response to women activists in Saudi Arabia.”Women have been very active through Twitter and social media, trying to voice their opinion because this is a place were you can express […] your opinion without being censored. I heard about the right to vote actually from Twitter before reading the news,” she said.Al Mubarak explained why she believes the change has happened now.”As for why now, I mean I always ask this question. Why not before it, why not next year? I think with all these women activists trying to ask for their rights it’s a way to, not to shut them up but to give them something,” Al Mubarak said. “To tell them things will eventually happen it’s just that we need some time. It’s not going to be easy… I’m not sure how good it will be. I’m not sure how the process is going to be. It’s still very vague. [I know] there are more important issues to be addressed.”In contrast, male Saudi Arabia native Yahya Al-Sulaiman believes that the right for Saudi Arabia women to vote and be appointed to council is “not right.””Women are voting for many different things right now,” Al-Sulaiman said over the phone on a Sunday morning.Mixed emotions have been conceived at the thought of women having the right to vote.Wajd Tameem stays hopeful, believing that this first step will affect the future of Saudi women positively.”It will change a lot of things,” Tameem said. “I don’t know, maybe next month we’re going to drive.”