As part of ongoing restructuring, the Saudi Eastern Province court has deployed an all-female staff to take on judicial and administrative duties. This milestone accomplishment came after six months of formal training, which paved the way for female staff to take over all personal status courts. By the second quarter of 2021, the court said to only have six female staff, with that number jumping to 116 currently.
The move comes as Saudi Arabia has been pushing for reforms to get more women into the workforce in recent years. Noura Al-Ghunaim, the director of the Women’s Department at the Saudi Ministry of Justice, stated that it was part of ongoing restructuring process, which seeks to replace male clerical staff with women who will be carrying out administrative duties.
"They have received several training courses on clerical work, work systems in the personal status courts, and others related to the nature of their work in such courts. Over the last six months, the ministry has trained the female workers according to plans to enable them to serve in the personal status courts and their administrative departments," said Al-Ghunaim.
She also pointed to the women's qualifications and accomplishments, adding, "They are well-qualified staff members with degrees in Islamic Shariah, law, administration, and sociology. Over the six-month period, these employees have accomplished 107,000 job tasks."
As preparations to deploy the newly trained staff were underway, in last December, justice minister Walid Bin Mohammed Al-Samaani inspected a personal status court. His visitation marked the start of a unified model standard for all Saudi courts, with the aim to modernize and improve work environment in line with the nation's Vision 2030 goals.
