Saudi Arabia’s ‘Vision 2030’ encompasses a number of steps to increase the participation of women in social and economic development. An independent strategic goal was specified in the vision to raise women’s competence and increase their participation in the labour market to be part of the developmental movement witnessed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Saudi women’s empowerment, accelerated through the implementation of many decisions, legislation and regulations that enhance their position in society, to become an effective partner in national development in all fields, says Khalid Hamoud Alkahtani, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Sri Lanka explaining the role of women in the ‘Vision 2030’ of the Kingdom in an interviews on the occasion of the International Women’s Day.
Saudi Vision 2030
Vision 2030 is a sustainable vision for the future of Saudi Arabia with sustainability at the heart of everything the Kingdom does, from policy development and investment to planning and infrastructure. By creatively and responsibly addressing the energy and climate challenges of today, Vision 2030 inspires others around the world to share in building a sustainable tomorrow.
The role of women in the ‘Vision 2030’
Since the era of the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud, until the era of the Custodian of the two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi women enjoyed many manifestations of empowerment until they became an active partner in the country’s elevation and development, and achieved qualitative successes, where its fields varied scientifically, economically, politically and socially.
The Kingdom’s ‘Vision 2030’ enshrines the necessary efforts for women in social and economic development, highlighting them as an influential factor at all levels. An independent strategic goal was specified in the vision to raise women’s competence and increase their participation in the labour market to be part of the developmental movement witnessed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
From this standpoint, Saudi women’s steps towards empowerment, accelerated through many decisions, legislation and regulations that enhance their position in society, to become an effective partner in national development in all fields. The Kingdom’s ‘Vision 2030’ included many commitments, goals, and initiatives that combine to promote women’s rights and empower them. It should be noted that one of the goals of the National Transformation Program, which is one of the programmes emanating from the Kingdom’s ‘Vision 2030’, is to increase women’s participation in the labour market, where the economic participation rate of Saudi females has been increased from 17% in 2017 to 35.6% in 2021, in addition to developing support capabilities for women’s work and enabling them to participate in the sports system.
Efforts to empower women and enhance their contribution in the labour sector
There are many initiatives launched by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to empower women, and perhaps the most important of them is the ‘Women Empowerment’ initiative, which was launched as an initiative by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, which aims to increase the qualitative participation rate of women in the public and private sectors and at all job levels. This is in order to achieve balance between the both sexes and reduce the quantitative and qualitative gap between men and women, and overcome the obstacles on the way of advancing human, economic and social development.
Legislation and reforms have passed over the past years to include women more in advancing the development process. The Royal decree was issued in 2013, allocating 20% of the seats in the Shoura Council for women, in addition to women’s election to the boards of directors of municipalities as well as the appointment of several women to leadership positions in the Government Sector. Most prominent measures taken by the Kingdom in this regard include, introducing many legal frameworks to achieve equality between women and men, most notably the work system, the travel documents system, the civil status system, the social security system, the traffic system, and the personal law system.
They also include specifying the ‘Saudi Women Empowerment Initiative’ within the framework of the general budget of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Creating and developing educational fields that would contribute to empowering Saudi women to obtain modern job opportunities in various fields, establishing a women’s committee in the Family Affairs Council.
Also the Human Rights Commission has assigned a special committee for women among its committees, concerned with protecting and promoting women’s rights in accordance with international standards in all fields and establishment of Gender Balance Centre.
Most prominent features of women’s empowerment in Saudi Arabia
Gender equality - The laws and regulations of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that are derived from Islamic law, endorse the principle of complementary equality between men and women, taking into consideration the characteristics and features of both sexes, in order to achieve justice.
The Kingdom has put in place reforms to enhance women’s participation in economic development, including unifying the retirement age for both sexes, preventing gender discrimination in terms of wages, type of job, field and working hours, as well as enabling women to engage in business without obtaining prior approval.
Equality in the work environment and wages - To combat discrimination within the work surroundings, the labour law put up a number of equal rights and duties between men and women, as well as in training programmes to obtain work.
Legislations adopted by the Kingdom to protect women from violence
The Kingdom’s laws criminalize the violence in all its forms, especially violence against women. The Protection from Abuse Law which was issued in September 2013 prohibits and criminalizes abuse in all its forms and manifestations. The designated centre for receiving complaints at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development Complaints receives the complaints of violence. In addition, protection teams have been formed in all regions and governorates to receive complaints. The National Family Safety Program plays a major role in this field.
Women’s participation in political and public life
Saudi women have assumed leadership positions in Government entities, where Saudi women constitute as a minimum of 20% of the Shoura Council. Women have assumed the leadership and membership of a number of specialized committees in the Shoura Council. The number of women working in the council is 97.
The HRC has 12 women, with a rate of 50% and women membership of the Rights Committee in the Shoura Council is 70%. Also women representation in the Public Prosecution Department is 200 and administrative employees of the same Department are 282 and 238 trainees. In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs there are 154 women diplomats and 144 Administrative employees. In Security and military sectors there are 8,377 women and in the Ministry of the Interior and its affiliated sectors and Governorates there are 9,976.
Women’s empowerment in the labour market
The reform efforts and legislation according to the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, were reflected in the goals of women’s empowerment, where the rate of Saudi women’s participation in the labour force rose from 32.4% in the second quarter of 2021 to 35.6% in the same quarter of the year 2022, and unemployment rates among Saudi women decreased from 22.3% during the second quarter to 19.3% in 2022. The Women and Legal Work report issued by the World Bank confirm the great progress made by the Kingdom in the field of empowering women in many fields, as the Kingdom’s index jumped from 25.63 points in 2019 to 80 points in 2022.
Ensuring Safety and Well-being of Women Migrant Workers
Saudi Arabia houses the largest contingent of Sri Lankan female migrant workers. With the vision 2030, the employment opportunities for migrant worker women too have increased exponentially. The Kingdom has always ensured the protection and well-being of female migrant workers on their soil. It will continue to strengthen these efforts in the future as well as Vision 2030 brings more migrant workers to its shores.
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