One of the main pillars of Vision 2030 is the empowerment of Saudi women by promoting their leadership and basic role in the labor market.

Recently, the number of Saudi women leaders in the diplomatic corps has increased to five, with the addition of two new female ambassadors, Nisreen Al-Shibel and Haifa Al-Jadea to the list of Saudi representatives in its embassies abroad.

The Saudi female ambassadors include Princess Rima Al Saud, Inas Al-Shahwan, and Amal Al-Moallimi, in the implementation of the Kingdom’s directives to enhance the participation of women and enable them to assume leadership positions.

Al-Shibl, ambassador to Finland, and Al-Jadea, head of the Kingdom’s mission to the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC), took the oath before King Salman on Tuesday, at Al-Yamamah Palace in the capital, Riyadh.

Women’s Empowerment Integral Part of Vision 2030

Women Empowerment aims to assist in achieving the Kingdom’s strategic goals, which include the diversification and sustainability of the Saudi economy, and the advancement of the Kingdom to become among the 15 largest economies in the world with a gross domestic product of more than SAR 6 trillion.

Also, because one of the objectives of Vision 2030 is to attract global investments, this will enhance the provision of huge job opportunities for all Saudis, men, and women.

Among the most prominent achievements of Vision, 2030 is also the launch of the National Transformation Program, in which Saudi women participate in a key role by assuming leadership, administrative and operational positions, to achieve eight strategic dimensions of the National Transformation Program.

These strategic dimensions include upgrading health care and enabling segments of society to enter the labor market. This can be done by achieving excellence in government performance through digital transformation and enhancing the concept of digital government, as well as contributing to empowering the private sector, developing the tourism sector and national heritage, promoting community development, and other strategic goals. In all of these dimensions, Saudi women participate effectively and efficiently alongside Saudi men.

The Kingdom has made qualitative leaps in terms of raising the efficiency and empowerment of women and increasing their economic participation in the labor market.

The reform efforts and legislation that took place in recent years under the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 were reflected in the goals of empowering women, by overcoming some obstacles related to freedom of movement, work, education, the issuance of travel documents, and the completion of many government transactions.

The Saudi Ministry of Justice has granted women the ability to document company incorporation contracts, issue and terminate agencies, mortgages, empty real estate, debt declarations and pay them off, and other necessary transactions.

This has helped double the rate of women’s participation in the labor market from 17% to 31.8% in 2020, and the percentage of women in middle and senior management positions has reached more than 30% in the public and private sectors.

The indicators also showed an increase in the percentage of Saudi women in the civil service to more than 41%.

Among the most prominent gains and achievements of Saudi women is their participation in many economic development tracks, as they were nominated in municipal councils and chambers of commerce, and also became an ambassador, deputy ministers, cultural attaché, and a leading members of the Shura Council and regions.

Saudi women have also represented the Kingdom in international forums, including the Kingdom’s permanent delegation to the United Nations.

The number of Saudi women working in industrial cities supervised by MODON increased from about 7,000 Saudi female employees to more than 17,000 in 2020.

Women also joined the military sector at the Ministry of Defense, where the first batch of women’s cadre training centers for the Armed Forces graduated. Saudi Arabia has various military ranks in several sectors, such as the Royal Land Forces, the Air Defense Forces, the Royal Navy, and others, in addition to joining the Hajj and Umrah Security Force in the Great Mosque of Mecca.

In addition to all of the above, Saudi women have a remarkable presence in the field of entrepreneurship within the Kingdom, starting with small projects to opening factories.

One example was a Saudi female entrepreneur who was able to produce and manufacture military products and clothing, and also managed to design and produce a suit for thermal and optical disguises 100% locally made in Saudi Arabia.

Another example of a Saudi female entrepreneur who could cover the Saudi market with a purely national industry, for ISO and UNIDO-certified products, and contributed to the employment of a large number of Saudi girls in this project.

Moreover, the Small and Medium Enterprises Financing Guarantee Program “Kafalah” announced that the total establishments owned by businesswomen and benefiting from the program during the first half of 2021 reached 456 establishments with financing amounting to SAR 432 million.

Thus, the percentage of businesswomen benefiting from it increased by 124%, compared to the same period in the previous year.

The Kingdom, through the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, has launched several projects that support women, such as the National Platform for Women Leaders.

The program serves as a tool that enables agencies to communicate and nominate women for leadership and military positions, boards of directors, or official delegations in international forums based on smart search criteria among applicants.

There is also a leadership training and guidance initiative to enrich the knowledge of Saudi women leaders, and other initiatives.

Among the tremendous historical achievements to empower Saudi women, was the announcement by the Arab Women’s Committee naming Riyadh as the capital of Arab women for 2020 under the slogan “Women are a homeland and an ambition.

This highlighted the national will in support of women’s gains in all fields, including increasing women’s economic participation and effective presence in administrative positions.

One of the fruits of the vision of empowering women is that the Kingdom has achieved great progress in 4 global indicators of women’s empowerment, including attaining first place in “achieving gender equality in the rate of enrollment in higher education” based on the results of the Gender Gap index issued by the World Economic Forum.

The Kingdom also advanced 33 ranks in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap.

The Kingdom has also succeeded in recording a significant increase in the percentage of women in administrative positions, by 183%.

In addition, the Kingdom achieved the largest improvement in the Women, Business, and Law Index, with a jump of 150.7% from 2017, according to the results of the “Women, Business and Law” index issued by the World Bank in February 2021.

As for equality between men and women and combating discrimination in the workplace, the labor system does not differentiate between women and men in rights and duties, and there is no discrimination in pay when the value and quality of work are equal.

There is complete equality between men and women in the search for work subsidies, as well as concerning support for training and employment.

There is equality in terms of the amount of support for training costs, wages, or the duration of support, and equality in the retirement age for men and women.

The Kingdom’s regulations also guarantee all citizens the right to an education free of charge without any discrimination and equal access to higher education scholarship programs.

Saudi women have proven that they have a leading role in building the economic renaissance, through sustainable participation, as they are essential partners in building and strengthening the nation’s capabilities and achieving sustainable economic development.

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