selected feature news
"This is the Saudi Woman"
Posted November 3, 2009 by Marah Bukai
By: Mshari Al-Zaydi, Asharq Alawsat
Since a royal decree issued by King Saud granting women the right to education in 1960, the movement for women’s rights to education has prevailed in the face of reluctance, apprehension and social resistance. Yet today, while Saudi women compose 50 percent of the Saudi population, making up 8.2 million of the 16.5 Saudi nationals, and are educated at the same levels as the men in their country, they only represent 10.25 percent of the overall workforce. Rather than oppose reform and progress as Western ideals, Saudi Arabia should continue on the road of reform and progress that has been part of its recorded history. Saudi Arabia can advance development and women’s rights while maintaining its cultural identity.
