My experience as a woman business traveler in KSA
What I learned about the young Saudi generation
It’s my third time in Riyadh. When I came earlier in 2010 and 2011, primarily to visit my husband during his long Saudi projects, I didn’t have the chance to interact with real Saudi people. Mostly what I remember about the culture from my visits was that my husband had repeatedly asked me not to take pictures in public places saying that the people wouldn’t like it. Living in Lebanon, although geographically somewhat close to the Kingdom, we are influenced like many other countries by the international stereotypes about Saudi Arabia especially when it comes to gender equity.
I have been a gender equity advocate myself for the past 2 years especially when it comes to women in engineering and technology and entrepreneurship. Just when I reduced my involvement in the women empowerment movement in order to focus on my own business which aims to spread social innovation and entrepreneurship in our youthful Arab world, I got an opportunity to deliver a training in Saudi Arabia as part of a capacity building program for new hires in the telecommunications domain under the Saudization implementation. Needless to say, I was extremely excited. Not only was it a great business opportunity, but also a great challenge! My task was to train 14 young Saudi men on entrepreneurship but I had no idea whether they would take me seriously or how things might go given I am a female. Nevertheless, I was extremely intrigued to experience that and figure it out.
In spite of a few obstacles, things moved forward and I found myself in Riyadh in front of a group of Saudi young men half of which hold degrees from the USA thanks to the Saudi Arabia sponsorship program for higher education. When I first addressed them, I was very careful with the words I chose and made sure to show confidence while slightly joking about being the only woman in the room. Things went extremely well and I found myself admiring these young professionals day after day appreciating their respectful attitude and disciplined behavior, extreme attentiveness and profound engagement in the training. I was surprised to see how thoroughly they have followed the rules that we have set together on the first day for the entire week including rules I didn’t really expect them to stick to such as being in the training room at 8 am and cleaning up after each activity and at the end of each day. I felt proud when during one of the training activities all the group showed solidarity with the new law to lift the ban on women driving in KSA saying that ‘it is about time’ and thinking of innovative ways to alleviate the side effects of this decision. I also truly enjoyed the informal conversations we had during lunch time, breaks, or after the training which were always meaningful and brought in a lot of cultural exchange. One of the side questions which left a mark on me was on how I tend to manage between my PhD studies, work at university, my startup, and kids. Although I have often received this question from peer women I have very rarely been asked that by other men which in my opinion was an indicator of empathetic thinking from the young Saudi. In a nutshell, I was surprised to find out that those men who I thought were completely different and biased against women proved to me that we are way more similar than we think and that in fact the prejudices came from us, the people who misunderstand them and judge them even before being in true contact with them.
Luckily, I have had some interaction with Saudi women as well who have started assuming positions in the tech industry in Saudi Arabia. They work in the same teams as men and are as competent or even in leadership. Surprisingly, these women sometimes stay till after 7 pm at work (not that I support it) and have the full support of their families. They have left me mesmerized by their level of knowledge which I was lucky to experience first-hand through a session together where they kept asking great questions and giving timely and smart feedback all while wearing their traditional national costume aka the niqab. One of them has even proposed to take a group picture together at the end of the session, which I was extremely happy about although I didn’t expect it at all.
I don’t know if I was extremely lucky to encounter high-caliber young Saudi’s who are both highly respectful and open-minded towards women. I also don’t know if it is the Vision 2030 of the Kingdom or if it is the new decisions which have been rolled out during my stay that played a role in changing the way I perceive Saudi Arabia and how I think about its people. What I do know is that this trip has left me totally impressed by the young generation and extremely happy because I can see a prosperous future of a great country being shaped by the promising talents of its youth under a very strategic Saudization movement that promotes innovation and entrepreneurship. It would be absolutely heart-warming to see other Arab countries take in KSA’s footsteps and entrust their youth to build their future and drive a self-sustaining economy in tough times.
