BURAIDAH, Saudi Arabia—The lifting of the female driving ban marked an extraordinary moment for this kingdom and showed how social overhauls are seeping into even the most conservative pockets here as Saudi women press for change.

In the desert region of Qassim, the center of the austere interpretation of Islam practiced in the nation, Aljohara al-Wabli slid into the driver’s seat of her son’s Toyota FJ Cruiser and, in Sunday’s wee hours, uttered a prayer and drove onto the roads of the capital Buraidah.