Working Women in Saudi Arabia
Women in Saudi Arabia are known as the biggest part of the population. Till 10 years ago women were not accepted as a part of the working community. This research demonstrates the lack of working sectors open to Saudi women, as well as the transportation issue, and peoples attitude towards employed women.
The Kingdom has given priority to quantity and quality expansion of education in the last seven to five-years development plans. Despite the low percentage of Saudi women working in the labor force in the Kingdom compared to advanced countries, it is the unavailability of working sectors open for Saudi women – usually limited to education and medicine - which has caused some saturation in these sectors. The Saudi government is planning to undertake a study of the role of women in the country 's economy(The Kahleej Times <Dubai>). Some of the goals expressed by Saudi Arabia 's 8th Five-Year plan (2005-2009) are to enlarge the scope of economic activities available for women. One of the steps being considered to realize the goals as set forth in the Plan is to take a look at current regulations and see what needs to be done to modify or eliminate them to open the economy further to women. Other parts of the plan focus on long term policies needed to support females who want to work. The objective is to lower the unemployment rate for women. In keeping with this objective, the plan wants government and private organizations to provide counseling for women for whom the novelty of employment may be stressful. The Saudi Plan goes beyond employment to address the entrepreneurial and investing ambitions of the country 's women. According to the Times many Saudi females have access to idle funds, which they could be using not only to provide employment for themselves--as traders--but also as an asset to the Saudi economy as a whole. Saudi Arabia is considering changing some of its restrictive policies directed at limiting the participation of women in the country 's
The Kingdom has given priority to quantity and quality expansion of education in the last seven to five-years development plans. Despite the low percentage of Saudi women working in the labor force in the Kingdom compared to advanced countries, it is the unavailability of working sectors open for Saudi women – usually limited to education and medicine - which has caused some saturation in these sectors. The Saudi government is planning to undertake a study of the role of women in the country 's economy(The Kahleej Times <Dubai>). Some of the goals expressed by Saudi Arabia 's 8th Five-Year plan (2005-2009) are to enlarge the scope of economic activities available for women. One of the steps being considered to realize the goals as set forth in the Plan is to take a look at current regulations and see what needs to be done to modify or eliminate them to open the economy further to women. Other parts of the plan focus on long term policies needed to support females who want to work. The objective is to lower the unemployment rate for women. In keeping with this objective, the plan wants government and private organizations to provide counseling for women for whom the novelty of employment may be stressful. The Saudi Plan goes beyond employment to address the entrepreneurial and investing ambitions of the country 's women. According to the Times many Saudi females have access to idle funds, which they could be using not only to provide employment for themselves--as traders--but also as an asset to the Saudi economy as a whole. Saudi Arabia is considering changing some of its restrictive policies directed at limiting the participation of women in the country 's
Cited: Al-Qarawi Najah bint Muqbel bin Abdullah “Saud University” http://wwww.ksu.edu.sa/printpress/research.asp?rid=1093&id=1 “Opportunities Open up for Saudi Women” <http://www.7days.ae/en/2007/02/28/opportunities-open-up-for-saudi-women.html> “Saudi Solutions” http://www.mazalien.com/saudi-solutions.html