The collapse of oil price in 2014 has affected Saudi economy severely. The economy has been showing the need for women’s contribution, in which it is going to help the economic growth. Therefore, the Saudi government is making efforts to bring women to the workforce by lifting some sanctions on women. Women entering the workforce will have great effects on women’s role regarding family matters, women’s right and women ‘s role form social and religious norm. Prince Mohammad bin Salman developed the vision of 2030 that emphasizes the need for reformation to witness economic growth. Twenty Thirty vision is aiming to diversify the country’s economic resources and be less dependent on oil.
Female workers are essential to derive this transformation. The more citizens enter the workforce, the more production there will be. There are many difficulties that keep women away from the workforce, so the Saudi government has started to ease the path from women to enter the workplace. Not only that women are half of the population, but they also have a marginally better education than men. According to Martin Hvidt (2018), only 20% of Saudi women are employed. The reason behind this small number of workers, Havidt argues, goes to traditional and religious reasons that expect women to stay at home and give full attention to her family. Moreover, Havidt points, the struggle of finding transportation is another obstacle for many women not to work; women had been banned from driving since 1979 for “religious reasons”.
Since women could not enter different work fields with having no full control over their decisions, the Saudi government has been showing an effort to ease the path for women to participate more in the workplace. Therefore, Mohammad bin Salman has lifted the driving ban early this year. It might be a small step, but I it could have a great outcome in the long-run. Also, they banned children from the marriage. This would have a great impact over girls future; they would have more time to think more about Education and less about life companion. Women entering the workforce would change women’s role in a family scale since they are going to breadwinners. Saudi society has always treated women as mom only, whose job is to take care of her kids and listen to her husband and do as he wishes. This mistreatment to women might have gotten less extreme in the last decade but unfortunately, it still exists.
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In the article “Women, Family and the Discovery of Oil in Saudi Arabia,” Salwa Al-khateeb talks about that changes the Saudi society encountered after the discovery of oil, and how this affected the Saudi family, Saudi women in particular. According to Salwa Al khateeb, an anthropologist who is currently a deputy of higher education in a College of girls and one of the few Saudi feminists, Sanctions that have been lifted on women to support women coming to work (driving ban, less foreign workers).
