Earlier this month two sisters from Saudi Arabia’s southwestern Ranya province took an early plane out of Riyadh to Turkey. Two hours after reaching Istanbul, they took a second flight to Trabzone, and from there they hired a driver to take them to neighboring Georgia, where they could enter without a travel visa. They needed to move quickly before their family would be alerted through the controversial Absher phone app, which notifies male citizens when dependents check in at airports.

The sisters, now known as the "Georgia Sisters" on social media, are the latest Saudi nationals to have made such a public plea in a new wave of women leading a vote of no confidence with their feet against the reforms of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Even though Saudi Arabia has sought to revamp the kingdom’s image abroad through lobbying, domestically women are still crippled under a guardianship system — where a male relative can make critical decisions for a woman from her birth to death, a legal system deterring them from reporting abuse, and, most recently, a nationwide crackdown on women who deviate from the norm.

When Mohammed became crown prince in 2017, there was a moment of euphoria, both domestically and internationally. Within months of his arrival, religious police were rendered less powerful, a driving ban on women was lifted and gender segregation was loosening. During a visit to the United States last year, Mohammed said in an interview with "60 Minutes" that he believed women were “absolutely” equal to men. The crown prince became a symbol of hope for women. Even prominent activists embraced him, at one point touting him as a reformer. Mohammed was seen as economically and socially open, even if he was politically conservative. But even that formula is no longer valid, according to Saudis affected by the changes, as society becomes more repressive under his rule.