As Saudi Arabia embarks on turning its Vision 2030 – part of which focuses on women empowerment initiatives and policies – into a reality, women in the Kingdom are more than ever nabbing business licenses to run their own shops and businesses, tech firms and start-ups.
According to a recent Arab News article, the Ministry of Commerce and Investment has issued almost 88,000 commercial registrations, with the highest numbers found in Riyadh (20,086), Jeddah (13,826), and Makkah (5,098).
At the core of the country’s Vision 2030 is the belief that women empowerment provides the necessary foundation for a prosperous society and sustainable development. That is why the Kingdom has been undergoing a series of reforms geared towards creating richer economic opportunities for women, allowing them easier access to the job market, and giving them a major role to play in the future development of the country’s economy.
According to a 2016 article in Foreign Policy, Saudi women have been seizing every opportunity to set up businesses or join the workforce, leading to a surge in female entrepreneurs and employees. Indeed, the number of female workers in the Kingdom has grown 48 percent since just 2010, reshaping the economy and marking significant strides in improving women’s rights in the country.
A report by Al Bawaba earlier this month reaffirmed this striking and welcoming change, by pointing out that four in 10 startups in Saudi Arabia are owned by women, signaling a female population with more financial independence that previous generations.
In a country where married women were not expected to work, two-income families are now becoming the norm as well. In fact, according the Ministry of Labor, roughly 1.3 million of the nearly 1.9 million women employed in Saudi Arabia in the first quarter of 2015 were married. In addition, fathers of brides are more than ever demanding that the right to study and work be clearly added in the marriage contract.
The economic climate in the Kingdom is set to continue encouraging women to be part and parcel of the country’s future progress, with the Ministry of Commerce and Investment recently setting up centers in regions such as Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah, Dammam, and Madinah to provide business assistance to women.
