Abdullah Al-Ghamdi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

 

RIYADH — The new employment strategy of the Ministry of Civil Service will ensure Saudi women with senior executive positions in government, its deputy minister has said.



Saleh Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Shuhaib did not specify when the strategy would be implemented but said improving opportunities for women in government jobs was a priority in the ministry's human resources development policies.



Al-Shuhaib said employing women in leading government positions was a challenge that the new employment strategy would be focusing on.



“Providing women with executive positions will be within Islamic teachings and social values,” he said.



Al-Shuhaib said the strategy intends to make maximum use of women's management abilities to further boost administrative development in the Kingdom. “This is not a drive that is limited to Saudi Arabia alone. It is being followed by the most advanced countries.”



Al-Shuhaib said women represent only 15 percent of executive leaders of 500 big organizations in the US despite accounting for 46.6 percent of the country’s workforce.



A recent statistical report issued by the ministry said women hold about 34.49 percent of government jobs.



According to the report, there were 998,100 government employees in the Kingdom consisting of 991,000 Saudi men and women.



The report said the remaining 7.92 percent of government jobs were filled by non-Saudis.



A total of 5,298 expatriate government employees were sacked in 2011 while 4,380 Saudi female government employees left their jobs in the same year, the study revealed.