Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia made a landmark announcement: women would no longer need the permission of a male relative to open businesses, a major step away from the decades-old guardianship system that hindered women not only socially but from contributing to the growth of the country’s economy as well. Just months after this transformative decision was announced, the number of women-owned businesses has grown significantly across Saudi Arabia, with cities such as Jeddah witnessing skyrocketing numbers.
As Mariyam Abu Al-Ainain, chairperson of the women’s wing at Jeddah Mayoralty, pointed out in a recent article by Saudi Gazette, women-owned firms in the city are now up to 5,446, with many of these including new areas of economic activities such as laundries, women’s sports clubs, restaurants, and studios.
Speaking on the role of her branch of the mayoralty, Al-Ainain explained that the division has been working diligently on ensuring the best possible services are made available to female clients particularly investors, saying, “We eased the procedures for rendering services to clients such as the issuance of licenses by starting online services under the system of ‘mayoralty without papers’.”
Today, there are 30 women inspectors at the Jeddah Mayoralty who are actively involved in carrying out daily inspections, leading to “a sharp decline in the number of violations such as failure in renewal of licenses or registration of entities or keeping health cards.”
This year’s decision to allow women to open up businesses without the consent of their husband or male guardian came on the heels of a string of decrees improving the rights of Saudi women, from laws allowing them to drive to rulings allowing them to enter previously male-only sports stadiums. These changes aimed at improving the lives of women in the Kingdom have come under Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia’s ambitious plan for economic and social reforms, part of which looks to increase women's participation in the workforce to 30 percent in 12 years from its current figure of 22 percent.
