The Saudi reform program “Vision 2030” accelerates the economic advancement of women. Female entrepreneurs are successful in many industries. This does not change the brutal persecution of those who think differently.
Before launching into space: Saudi astronaut Rayyanah Barnawi
Saudi women have made it to the top this week, quite literally: 34-year-old cancer researcher Rayyanah Barnawi swapped hers Workplace in Riyadh's highly specialized King Faisal Clinic against a mobile laboratory on the International Space Station.
There, the astronaut will work scientifically for ten days and answer questions from Saudi children and young people via the ISS radio station. She has tweeted from space and taken selfies with her audience on Earth wearing her grandmother's earrings.
Barnawi's time in space illustrates how much the situation of Saudi women has changed. Until June 2018, they were not even allowed to drive a car and were barred from a number of jobs.
Finally on Tax: Driving became legal for women in Saudi Arabia in 2018
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, MBS for short, has been trying to modernize the country socially and economically since 2016. He calls his reform project “Vision 2030”.
Modernization without human rights
Human rights organizations point out, however, that these reforms have in no way improved the situation of those who think differently and human rights activists. According to their estimates, hundreds of critics have been sentenced to extremely long prison terms or the death penalty.
For women in general, however, the situation has improved massively. Male guardianship was abolished in 2019. Women were given the right to live alone, apply for a passport and open a business without the consent of a guardian such as a father, husband or brother.
That makes a significant difference, says Marriam Mossali, founder and CEO of Niche Arabia, a luxury goods communications and marketing agency. “Saudi women have always had ambition, even if we had to hide it under the veil of anonymity before 'Vision 2030' put us in the spotlight,” she told DW. “We've served on boards, but there were never any photos of us on company websites. We've invested in companies, but we weren't the face of our brand. That's changed now.”
Rave in Riyadh – awakening for women
Marriam Mossali is excited about Rayyannah Barnawi's journey into space. “It will have a domino effect,” she predicts. “Girls will be impressed that women go into space, that they head financial institutions or even become ambassadors. These girls will no longer think that they can't do it.”
Sebastian Sons, scientist at the German think tank CARPO, also emphasizes the noticeable change. “Riyadh is completely different than it was six years ago,” he says of the Saudi Arabian capital. It's like everywhere else in the world now: women are sitting on their laptops in cafes that are open to all genders, and there are many successful women in leadership positions.
Saudizization benefits women
For them There are two other main reasons for this development, explains Frenchwoman Julie Barbier-Leblan, who was included in the top 20 list of women in the tech industry in the Arab world by Forbes magazine in 2022. “Most women get a lot of support from their families,” she told DW. “And then there's Saudiization.”
Female car mechanics in Saudi Arabia
The first laws on so-called Saudiisation date back to the 1970s and were intended to replace foreign workers with local workers. Saudiization is now a focus of the 'Vision 2030' reform project, explains Sebastian Sons. There is a quota for Saudi workers and if it is not met, companies would have to pay a fine.
This has now apparently boosted female employment. According to the state statistics agency GASTAT, the unemployment rate for Saudi women has fallen from 20.5 percent to 15.4 percent over the past six months.
The gender pay gap continues to widen
But even though more women are employed, they still earn less than men. According to a report by the Europe-based Saudi human rights organization ESOHR, in 2022 the gap varied between four percent in the public sector and 36 percent in private companies, even though labor laws actually prohibit gender-based discrimination in salaries.
Women's solidarity: Maha Shirah wants to support other female entrepreneurs with SheWorks, a workspace for women
Saudi Arabia should consider reforms that improve women's legal equality, concluded a recent World Bank report entitled “Women, Economy and Law”. Specifically, it's about “marriage-related restrictions, laws affecting mothers' work, and gender-specific differences in property and inheritance”.
Female Places for the Advancement of Women
The Entrepreneur Maha Shirah has observed that more women are starting their own businesses over the past five to seven years. “The changes since 2016 have impacted women entrepreneurs in a very positive way,” the founder of SheWorks, the first Saudi workspace for women, told DW. She is convinced that a whole generation of women will benefit from the new opportunities – including herself.
Maha Shirah wants to transform SheWorks into a business incubator for Saudi women entrepreneurs. “I have the feeling that there are no limits to my ambition,” she beams. “The people are ready for change, the population is young and eager to learn.”
This article was adapted from English.