Written by: Sarah Le
Edited by: Emma Leonard
Perspectives for gender disparity have evolved significantly in the past few decades. Gender has developed into classifying as a spectrum of identities. A trend has been identified that people are being educated to become more open to global issues involved gender discrimination. With the same attitude, the UN’s fifth Sustainable Development Goal focuses mainly on the empowerment of women and girls. Progress has been seen as more women have claimed executive positions in organizations and the parliament. However, there are countries that still have more to improve than others. This article aims to specify the case of Saudi Arabia where the rights for women are largely below world’s average standards.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the largest country in the Middle East, is surrounded by the Red Sea, Yemen, Oman, Jordan, Israel, Iraq, and many other countries. According to the 2021 Global Index Gender Gap report, Saudi Arabia ranked 147 out of 156 countries. This illustrates clearly the gender-based disparities in the Kingdom as up until now, women are restricted to activities such as wearing heavy make-up or interacting with men outside of their family. However, in the recent couple years, Saudi Arabia has undergone social reforms in which women are allowed to practice a number of different things.
In the past, the country had a strict male guardianship system. Women could not freely make decisions, either within a household or out in the societial environment. For instance, women had no right to make a passport and travel abroad unless there was permission from a male figure, like her father, brother, or husband. Even worse, many female activists had been arrested for encouraging women empowerment.
Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Saudi Vision 2030, the country has made much progress in striving towards gender equality. If before, most sectors in the country were dominated with male leaders, women have now been encouraged to emerge into leadership roles. An increase in female-led entrepreneurships and services has been seen recently, and the rights for women at work have been improved. In addition, the Vision 2030 plan aims to increase women participation in the workforce from 22% to 30%. Furthermore, scholarships and funding foundations have been established across the nations to open more opportunities for women to pursue higher education. The #WomenSupportingWomen movement has also gained significant attention. The Ministry of Health has also established a number of different health care services for women to receive sufficient support in a range of areas like surgeon, natural reproduction, diagnostic examinations, etc. More to read here.
It is important, however, to acknowledge that Saudi Arabia still has a lot to do in order to be considered close to the UN’s goal for Gender Equality. Many critics claim that the reforms of the Kingdom still have little impact on the real problems with gender-segregation in the nation. In many parts of the country, men and women still have separate entrances and access to public services like parks or restaurants. Inside a household, it is yet possible for women’s opinions to be viewed equal to the men’s. In other words, the target of achieving total equality for women and girls seems slightly above the reach of the country, unless significant changes are made to punish unequal treatments and improve the voice of women in the society.
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