Saudi women on course to increase presence in corporate landscape

Princess Reema bint Bander Al Saud tells a conference in Riyadh that recent rule changes will increase female participation in the workforce by 2030.

Above, a female Saudi journalist at work in Riyadh. Saudi officials are clarifying misconceptions about male guardianship, which is often confused with cultural habits. Hasan Jamali / AP Photo
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RIYADH // A relaxation of male guardianship requirements for women and their rise in the public and private sectors will help propel women to account for 30 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s workforce by 2030, according to Princess Reema bint Bander Al Saud, an entrepreneur and philanthropist.

Under the kingdom’s Vision 2030 outlined by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman last year, women are expected to climb up the work ladder and have a bigger presence in the labor market, which is limited to 22 per cent now, according to government statistics.

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman issued an order easing male guardianship rules this year, allowing women to benefit from government services such as education and healthcare, various local media outlets have reported. Previously they needed male consent to access such services.

The current male guardianship system still necessitates that women get permission from a relative – a father, husband or a brother – to travel and marry, the princess said.

Saudi officials are clarifying misconceptions about male guardianship, which is often confused with cultural habits, said Princess Reem, who is also vice-president of the General Authority for Sports Planning and Development.

“What we have been doing as a nation is disseminating and pulling apart the culture from the law,” said the princess at a press conference in Riyadh. “Guardianship was never really a highlighted item before 10 years. The more prominent we are in positions of government, the more you will begin to see laws change.”

As more women enter the workforce and establish their own businesses, society will take heed of the changes needed to help make their lives easier, from opening a bank account to requiring legal documents, she added.

And women have been inching up the corporate ladder.

Saudi Arabia appointed in February Sarah al Suhaimi as the first woman to head the Saudi Stock Exchange or Tadawul, the region’s biggest equity market. Samba Financial Group, a major Saudi bank, also made Rania Nashar its chief chief executive this year.

“Our laws do not change to pander to the outside. Our laws change to accommodate the needs of our people,” said the princess.

Women have also been gaining prominence in the public sector.

In 2011, the late King Abdullah allowed women onto the Shura Council, a government advisory body and in 2012, women were allowed to participate in the Olympics for the first time.

But a bigger step took place in 2015 when women were allowed to vote and be elected in the country’s third round of municipal elections.

“Do I believe there is enough (female) voice in the municipality? perhaps not,” said the princess. “I really hope it encourages more women to participate in the next round because it is not a matter of power in numbers. It is a matter of getting the eye and ear used to the vision and the sound of a woman.”

Seeing and hearing women working has already had an impact on society, according to Basmah Omair, chief executive of Jeddah-based Alsayedah Khadijah Bint Khawilid Lobbying Center.

“For example, in the sales (sector) now, women are having to deal in a mixed environment, just as we had in the hospitals for 60 years but people just got used to that it is only in hospitals,” she said. “Now they are used to it in the malls. Now they will get used to it in other sectors.”

dalsaadi@thenational.ae

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