By Aljohara Zarea

JEDDAH — Empowering women has had a huge echo in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the preceding period of time.

Every sector, every establishment, and every facility has been not only talking about women empowerment, but has come forward to walk that talk.

This all came about, after the great transformation made by the wise government of the Kingdom to make Saudi women an effective and important element in all fields and sectors and allowing them to stand shoulder to shoulder with men in all tasks that help build the Kingdom and to grow its economy.

The presence of women in the work sectors has become a familiar sight and their contributions in every sector is gaining equal importance.

Detractors do not denounce their presence in every sphere of action and development as it was in the past, as they appreciate women’s role in the nation building, taking a cue from the Crown Prince.

Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, in his statement with The Atlantic magazine, has stressed, "The reforms related to women are for Saudi Arabia, and not to appease anyone."

The Crown Prince was following the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman’s lead, for the King had emphasized, "Women are the source of development for any society. Without empowering women, it will be difficult to reform societies."

Over the years, the Kingdom has instituted major reforms that enhanced the participation of women to join men in the development of the state’s economy.

Among the reforms implemented the most notable were unifying the retirement age of both the sexes, preventing gender discrimination in terms of wages, job type, field and working hours, in addition to enabling women to engage in business without obtaining prior approval of a guardian.

Saudi Arabia has also harmonized women’s access to all types of jobs in the labor market.

Equality in the work environment and wages in Saudi Arabia proves the Kingdom's full interest in women's work, as a whole chapter has been allocated in the work system for working women. (Chapter Nine of the Labor Law), which provides articles for the employment of women under the labor law.

It is noteworthy that in 2020, 4 years after the launch of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, the indicator of the percentage of women’s participation in the workforce has exceeded the 2030 target, increasing from 21% in 2017 to 33.2% of the workforce in 2020. The projected Vision 2030 target was 30%.

The economic participation rate indicator for Saudi women has reached 33.5%, exceeding the 2020 target, to reach 26.15%.

Saudi Arabia has achieved notable progress in the “Women, Business and the Law (WBL) that was issued by the World Bank Group, as it scored 80 points out of 100 in the year 2021.

According to the estimates of the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) based on the Labor Force Survey, the participation rate of Saudi females in the labor force increased to 34.1% in the third quarter of 2021 compared to the previous quarter, with an increase of 1.7%.

The unemployment rate among Saudi women has also decreased by 0.4% reaching to 21.9%, though it is higher than the male unemployment rate, which stands at 5.9%.

According to the difference in labor market indicators by gender, the female labor force participation rate for Saudi females and foreigners in the third quarter of 2021 reached 35.9%, with an increase of 2.1% from the second quarter of 2021.

The rate of female workers of the total population increased to 29.7%, with an increase of 1.7% over the second quarter of 2021, while the female unemployment rate stabilized at 17.1% in the third quarter of 2021.

The participation rate of Saudi females in the labor force was about half of the males by 34.1%, compared to 65.0%, where the ratio of employed females to the population is nearly half the ratio of males.

During these years, we cannot mention any sector without actively touching the presence of women. Women are present in government leadership positions, government and private sectors, health, education, scientific, administration, defense, economic, sports, technology and many others.

Here are the most prominent positions that they have been appointed and the most prominent programs launched to empower women in Saudi Arabia:

Women's leadership as an ambassador for Saudi Arabia:

Appointing a woman to be an ambassador is a great incentive that demonstrates the Kingdom's belief in the ability of women to represent Saudi Arabia everywhere. The Kingdom has appointed three female ambassadors, who are:

1 - Appointing Princess Rima Bint Bandar since Feb. 23, 2019 as the ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman to the United States with the rank of minister. She is the first woman to hold the position of ambassador in the Kingdom' history.

2 - Appointing the second woman ambassador, Amal Al-Mouallimi, the ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman to Norway.

3 - Appointing the third female ambassador to represent Saudi Arabia, Enas Al-Shahwan, the ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman to Sweden.

Women in education sector:

In the past, women were abundant in the education sector, but they were limited only to work as a teacher or administrator, until a radical transformation came to enable them to occupy a leadership position. The Minister of Education, Dr. Hamad Al Sheikh, made several new appointments, most notably:

1 - Appointing Ibtisam Al-Shehri as the first Saudi woman to hold the position of spokesperson for the Ministry of Education.

2 - Appointing Dr. Lilac AlSafadi as president of the Electronic University to become the first woman to head a Saudi university that includes both male and female students.

3 - The Ministry of Education has launched programs to support teachers' salaries in private schools, as it contributed to raising the rate of Saudization in private education jobs by increasing the salary scale and setting a minimum wage.

Women in Shoura Council:

1 - On Jan. 11, 2013, King Abdullah issued a royal order to amend the system of the Shoura Council, where he asked to provide 150 members in the Council, and that 20% of them at least should be women. And that decision allowed women to participate in the national decision-making.

2 - King Salman issued a royal order appointing Hanan Al-Ahmadi as an Assistant President of the Shoura Council, thus becoming the first woman to hold this position in Saudi Arabia.

Women in health sector:

The health sector represents one of the most humane sectors, and the most diverse in its field.

Behind every hospital and clinic's doors there are several heroes and soldiers who are intensifying their efforts to serve the people. Women constitute a very large percentage in the various complex and scientific fields of medicine.

The number of Saudi women working in the health sector at the end of the third quarter of 2021, is higher than that of their foreign counterparts. About 52.6% or 96,281 out of 183,075 female employees are Saudis, compared to 86,794 foreign women.

Women in the security and defense sector:

Over the past years, Saudi women have constituted a large part of maintaining the Kingdom's security and stability.

The fields of women’s defense in the Kingdom have varied, including physical defenses in the armed forces, and internal protection of the Kingdom’s data such as cyber security. The most prominent women’s participations were:

1 - The Saudi Federation for CyberSecurity, Programming and Drones (SAFCSP) has stated that Saudi Arabia’s cybersecurity sector has witnessed a high presence of women, with the rate of participation reaching 45 percent, which proves that women have great effectiveness and a tangible impact in data protection and information security.

2 - The graduation of the first batch of women soldiers from the Armed Forces Women’s Cadre Training Center on Sept. 1, 2021.

It is noteworthy that military ranks from soldier to sergeant are available for women in the Saudi Arabian Army, Royal Saudi Air Defense, Royal Saudi Navy, Royal Saudi Strategic Missile Force and the Armed Forces Medical Services. Saudi women between the ages of 21 and 40 are allowed to apply for these posts.

Women in sport sector:

The sports sector in the Kingdom for women is witnessing a great boost, especially after the establishment of the first Saudi women's national football team, and after the Saudi Football Association announced the establishment of the Saudi Women’s Football League.

One of the most prominent leadership positions in the sports sector is the appointment of Lamia Bin Bahian, to be a member of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation and Director of the Women's Football Department.

Empowerment of women in the Kingdom is growing and developing more quickly over the years, as the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development is also working hard to create facilities and work environments suitable for women.

This is in addition to enhancing their capabilities and facilitating their transportation in order to strengthen their skills at work.

It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development has launched several programs to empower women, most notably:

1 - Qeyadat, the national platform that works to empower women in leadership positions.

2 - Tamheer Program, the on-the-job training program for Saudi graduates to prepare them to participate in the labor market.

3 - Wusool program, the e-service that enables women to work in the private sector and raise their participation in the labor market by helping them overcome transportation difficulties to and from the workplace. Through this, 20,000 Saudi female employees have registered with the program.