Saudi women’s real story

There are few subjects that the international media gets so wrong as Saudi women. A cursory flick through articles new and old would lead any sane reader to believe we’re voiceless, oppressed, and void of ambition or hopes.

The story of our lives is mostly told without context or nuance, but last week it came under the spotlight at Chatham House, where a panel of speakers tackled ‘The Future of Women in Saudi Arabia’.

A lively panel that included Saudi researcher Najah Al-Osaimi and actress Ahd Kamel

The starting point for the debate was the Kingdom’s 2030 National Vision, which was launched last year and puts forward a new relationship between citizen and state. It is underpinned by an economic reform programme that aims to prepare the country for a post-oil era.

While the workplace is an important arena for change — the 2030 National Vision includes a raft of measures that will directly impact the lives of Saudi women through greater participation in the workforce and political arenas — the discussion quickly moved to examine a myriad of different factors that have been in flux.

Progress on women’s rights and our quality of life has been steadily advancing for a number of years now, certainly well before the 2030 Vision was rolled out. And for most Saudis who read how our women are portrayed in foreign media, it’s no exaggeration to say that the gap between perception and reality is wider than it has ever been.

This gap is perhaps demonstrated most powerfully by the UNDP’s Gender Inequality Index, which evaluates women’s lives according to health, empowerment and labour market criteria.

Readers may be surprised to learn that Saudi was ranked 39th out of 188 countries, and is among the top band of ‘very high human development’ nations. Within this band it is second only to Singapore in terms of improvement, rising 10 places since 2009.

Argentina, Portugal, Croatia, Hungary and Cuba — all countries with conjure up images of strong and independent women — are below Saudi in the rankings.

There is no doubt that the media’s portrayal of women in Saudi is normally framed by the ban on women’s driving, and it hinders most attempts at a balanced analysis of our lives.

What’s more Saudis, both male and female, have come to recognise our failure in communicating with the outside world, allowing our critics to tell our story and tell it badly. The absence of international journalists based in Saudi has also had an impact.

So how does Saudi come 39th in the UDP index? For a start, we benefit from extensive and generous public services, with free healthcare and education.

observers of Saudi will have noticed the change of women taking on more prominent roles, and carving a greater degree of independence for themselves. Just this week Sarah Al-Suhaimi was appointed as Chairperson of our stock exchange, the largest in the Middle East.

More women than ever before are now in the workforce, and the participation of women has doubled in the past five years and is set to almost double again under the 2030 Vision. Financially we have become more independent, and a recent survey revealed that women own £85b of the country’s bank deposits. Some of the most exciting entrepreneurs at the forefront of the economy reform as women.

This would not come as a surprise after you consider the fact that 51% of our university students are women.

When it comes to political representation, there are 29 female members of our Shoura ( consultative ) Council. At 19.5%, this is higher than female participation in political chambers in many countries and roughly the same proportion that the US Congress and Senate have.

In the creative arts Saudi women are making serious waves, with musical star Tam Tam, actress Fatima Al Banawi from the Oscar-nominated film Baraka meets Baraka, comedian Maisah Sobaihi who has appeared at the Edinburgh Festival, and a host of successfully artists.

In sports Saudi sent four female athletes to the 2016 Olympics and a new law has been recently passed to facilitate the establishment of women gyms. With the encouragement of Princess Reema Bint Bandar as the Vice President of Women’s Affairs at the General Sports Authority, I believe there’s an exciting future for girls passionate about sports.

For the international media to start covering Saudi women more accurately it only takes one simple measure to make a telling difference. Instead of sticking to the old stereotypes, find and interview a Saudi woman — or better still, several.

Public events such as the one at Chatham House are a good start. We have an exciting story to share, and we’d like you to share it.