WOMEN ARE LEADING IN TODAY’S SAUDI ARABIA

A country much proud of its culture, tradition and faith, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia values the profound role of women in society.

Recently, under the leadership of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and earlier under the late Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdallah bin Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia has rolled out a series of initiatives that established an enabling environment for women to expand their participation in public life. Women in Saudi Arabia are drivers of the change we see today: participating in our elaborate workforce; leading multi-national corporations & becoming the champion of education, health, financial and other sectors. Women occupy a central role to the growth and expansion of Saudi Arabia’s thriving economy and their robust inclusion in active worklife is core to Saudi Government’s Vision 2030.

According to some recent reports, there is a sound economic argument around the collaboration between women and men — that can benefit our GDP by over US$ 50 billion by 2025. The Kingdom’s aim is to have women account for 30% of the workforce in the coming years — up from the current 22%. Infact, according to the latest figures from the Saudi Arabia’s Central Department of Statistics and Information, the number of women employed in Saudi Arabia has increased by 48% since 2010.

In particular, the financial sector is experiencing noteworthy developments. Sarah Al-Suhaimi was appointed the first ever woman to chair the Saudi stock exchange in February. Establishing herself as a force to reckon with, Ms. Al-Suhaimi held various key positions in investment firms over the years, finally taking charge of the stock exchange. Another lady, Ms. Rania Nashar, was named the Chief Executive of Samba Financial Group, becoming the first CEO of a listed commercial bank in Saudi Arabia.

Education has been at the core of Saudi Arabia’s national policy agenda and the Kingdom has always offered an encouraging environment for women to explore careers in the academic fields. Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University at Riyadh is the largest women’s university in the world and bears testimony to Saudi Arabia’s committement towards women’s education and excellence.

We are proud of women achievers from our nation who have made great strides towards realizing their professional ambitions by creating a niche for themselves globally. Dr. Dalal Moheealdin Namnaqani, an educator in medicine, has become the first Saudi woman to be appointed dean of a university in which she supervises both male and female faculties. Another significant name in acedemics is Dr. Mona Al Munajjed who is Saudi Arabia’s foremost sociologist in the country and has been instrumental in formulating several social development field projects for which she received the UN-21 Award for excellence, outstanding coordination and individual productivity in 2005. There are many other women who have earned international accolades for making pivotal contribution in the area of education,research, healthcare and science.

Dr. Hayat bint Sulaiman bin Hassan Sindi is a Saudi Arabian scientist and a name that we take pride in. She was appointed a 2011 Emerging Explorer by National Geographic, and in 2012, a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for science education. She has served at the UN Secretary-General’s Scientific Advisory Board. Among her innovations, Dr.Sindi has developed a diagnostic tool used for the early detection of breast cancer and the Magnetic Acoustic Resonance Sensor (MARS).

Dr. Khawla S. Al-Khuraya is another distingueshed name in the field of medical research. She is a Saudi Onco specialist and professor of pathology. Dr. Al-Khuraya is well known for identifying FOSM1 gene, which prompts the human body to form cancer cells. She was the first Saudi woman to receive the Order of Abdulaziz al Saud in 2010 for her cancer research.

We are proud in Saudi Arabia to see our country making such an incredible progress to further education and expand opportunitis for women. According to data from ‘The Global gender Gap Report 2014’ released by The World Economic Forum, Saudi Arabia now has an astonishing female literacy rate of 91% — an unheard of feat in many nations across the world. Essentially, almost 52% of the graduates in Saudi Arabia are women. The government’s focus on women’s education has had various other positive effects — it has led to a noteworthy reduction in fertility and mortality rates, improved health and nutrition tables and, as metioned earlier, led to an increase and involved participation in public life. Tens of thousands of scholarships to study abroad are provided to women of Saudi Arabia every year. A recent achievement that gave me a great pleasure was that of Somayya Jabarti — who took over the role of the first woman editor-in-chief of English daily Saudi Gazette.

It is important to mention here that an important moment in Saudi Arabia happened in 2013, when 30 women became a part of the 150-member of advisory body — the Shura Council — for first time in the Kingdom’s history. Moreover, in a landmark Municipal election in 2015, four women were elected from the regions of Makkah, Jawf and Tabuk.

Very recently, Women’s Day was celebrated in Saudi Arabia with a gathering held at King Fahd Cultural Centre. During the same time, the Kingdom also celebrated the national cultural festival called Al Janadriyah — showcasing tradition, culture & the blend with modernity through creativity and ingenuity of the people. This year’s Al Janadriyah festival also devoted some of its programs for women’s very important role and value in nation-building.

The government is leading a host of successful initiatives in gender empowerment and cultural development. Participation of women in the the socio-economic structure remains the focus of the government today and many initiatives — some of which I’ve tried to highlight above — are being undertaken for the promotion of women participation and their leading involvement in all walks of life in our country.

Saud M. Al-Sati, Ambassador, Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia to India

This article first appeared in The Tribune on Monday, March 20th, 2017