The Role of Women in Workplaces in Saudi Arabia - Literature review Example

The Role of Women in Workplaces in Saudi Arabia Introduction There is a general perception that women in Saudi Arabia do not enjoy equal rights when it comes to employment and this is a major hindrance for Saudi Arabia in developing into a dynamic market economy (AlMunajjed, 2010). However, there are researchers who argue that in Saudi Arabia women have their perception of equality and undoubtedly they play an important role within their families and outside their families (Alsaleh, 2012). Whatever is the claim, the facts and figures on Saudi women participation in the workplace cannot be denied in concluding about the role of Saudi women in the workforce. Fact sheet presented by the International Labour Office (n.d.) reveals that the regions of Middle East and North Africa have shown the lowest growth in terms of women participation in the workforce. The report shows that overall all the regions of the world has improved at a rate of 56.6% with regards to womens participation in paid employment; however, in Middle East and North Africa this rate has remained steady at 32% from the last ten years and have shown negligible increase of 4.5%. This rate is even lower when it comes to non-agricultural paid employment and the rate of women participation from the last ten years has remained at 28.2% which has improved only by 3.7%. This pinpoints towards a grave issue as women form a major portion of the population of any country and their participation in the workforce means development of a vibrant economy where its resources are properly utilized. This paper explores the role of Saudi women in the workplace by using a bibliographic research methodology that is defined as a research where the source of information is published material. Bibliographic research is mainly based on the information available in books, journals, and newspapers and magazines; however in this age of technology, online sources of information are also used to draw conclusions in a bibliographic research. Following explains in detail the research methodology used in this paper. Research Methodology This paper uses bibliographic research to draw conclusions on the role of women in workplace in Saudi Arabia. Reed and Baxter (2006, p. 41) defined bibliographic research “as the process of using the library and bibliographic resources to locate information relevant to your topic”. This relates bibliographic resources to the review of literature which according to Singh and Bajpai (2008) is about collecting the relevant data on the topic of study to see how, when, where and who have contributed previously to the identified research problem. The authors continued that review of literature starts once a research problem is identified. They elucidated that if the researcher doesn’t have prior knowledge on the topic of the study the researcher needs to carry out a conceptual literature review before defining the research problem. This conceptual overview of literature will help define the research problem clearly. Singh and Bajpai (2008) have given hints to carry out review of literature successfully. The authors stated that the researchers must understand that the review of literature is mainly library phase and this calls for a deep understanding on how libraries and databases work. The authors stated that accuracy and consistency are two main criteria for a good bibliographic research. The authors also highlighted the importance of using bibliographic cards to take notes of the data collected during review of literature and mentioned that it is always better to transcribe the information gathered during the review rather than paraphrasing it. Exploring literature on bibliographic research methodology further reveals that this kind of research falls under the category of qualitative research. Wigren (2007, p. 383) defined qualitative research “as a study that focuses on understanding the naturalistic setting, or everyday life, of a certain phenomenon or person.” Cooper and Schindler (2012) explained that qualitative studies are mostly exploratory in nature and there are different techniques that can be used for carrying out qualitative studies. Explaining further, authors identified four exploratory techniques falling under the category of qualitative research as secondary data analysis, focus groups, experience surveys, and two-stage designs (Cooper & Schindler, 2012, p. 167). This paper in order to explore the role of Saudi women in workplace is mainly based on the secondary data analysis where the published material on the topic is explored to reach conclusions on the role of women in workplace in Saudi Arabia. Ridley (2012) explains that the main purpose of carrying out secondary data analysis in the form of literature review is contextualizing your research with reference to previous studies conducted on the topic. According to the author the literature review can be descriptive or analytical. The analysis will be descriptive if the review only describes what other studies have found on a topic and it will be analytical when the researcher form an informed opinion on the topic after analysing all the studies carried out on the topic. This paper will be based on analytical review of literature where the secondary data will be evaluated to critically to draw conclusions on the topic of study. Findings This section analyses the facts retrieved from the review of literature and secondary data analysis to draw meaningful conclusions and present recommendations at the end of the paper. Facts and figures from 2006 on GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council) Countries that include Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Oman, Kuwait, and Qatar shows that though women make 48% of the population of these states however female participation in the economy is only 19.2% which is only one fifth of the total labor force (Al Yousef, 2009). The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the largest of the GCC Countries with 45% of the women in their population out of which 56.5% have university education that is more than 43.5% of education percentage among males. However, only 14% of the females having university education are in the workforce (Al Yousef, 2009). Al-Munajjed (2014) identified education as one of the problems leading to unemployment among Saudi women. Quoting UNESCO (2007) Al- Munajjed (2014) stated that more than one million of Saudi women want to get employment but they are unable to enter workforce as they are not appropriately skilled and qualified. Al- Munajjed (2014) also identified other constraints such as social, legislative and occupational which restrain females to join workforce. Bashraheel (2013) while discussing steps taken by the Saudi government to induct women in workforce pinpointed that despite of the efforts at government level unemployment among females has increased over the course of time. The figures quoted by the author were astonishing where the unemployment rate among women in 1999 was only 16% which reached to 36% by the end of 2012. The reasons to this increase in unemployment are vague. This trend is may be due to the special work environment needed by women as Bashraheel (2013) stated while quoting assistant undersecretary at the Ministry of Labor, Fahd Al-Tikhaifi that “men can work anywhere contrary to women who need a special work environment.” Generally, it is thought that since Saudis are the followers of Islam there are restrictions on their women not to join paid employment. However, research shows just the opposite. Al-Harthi (2000) stated that Islam does not contradict between the roles of men and women in the society. Shaikh (2007) quoted Dima Bint Turki – The Saudi Princess that “Islam embraces the contributions that women are able to make.” Yamani (1996) also found that Islam encourages women to get education, own property and involve in all aspects of social life. It is permissible for them to work for their needs whenever required but the work should be within ethical boundaries. Bahkali (2012) in the research also emphasized the same but have also put in focus the cultural barriers and restrictions. Bahkali (2012) conducted in-depth interviews with Saudi Women working in teaching and medical profession and found that the former profession is considered more conformable than latter due to the fact that the latter involve male colleagues which make Saudi women uncomfortable. While identifying the influence of religion on the work life of Saudi women, the researcher found that though religion does not disallow them to take part in paid employment but their cultural restrictions is such that they prefer jobs that suits their feminine nature and doesn’t require them to work for long hours. The study found that due to these issues women in Saudi Arabia are concentrated in narrow fields and their representation in senior positions is minimal. Analysis From the above presented findings it is clear that the induction of Saudi women in the labour market is not only subject to their qualification and skills but there are other constraints like social and occupational restrictions. There is evidence that Saudi women are more educated than Saudi men but when it comes to joining labour force only 14% of the Saudi women are in paid employment. Saudi women, due to their cultural norms, prefer such work environment that is dominated by women and where they can work comfortably. The influence of Saudi men in career choice of Saudi women also plays a major role where males want to send their women to places they think are good for them as per their cultural value system. It is therefore important to work not only on Saudization (a campaign introduced by the government to employ Saudi workers to reduce unemployment rates through which young and women are also getting chance to get paid employment) but also on the cultural, occupational and legal system of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There are two possibilities when it comes to the value system of the state; either the norms and value system is changed a bit to make it easier for women to get the job and work comfortably in the presence of male members of the society. This will be possible if male members of the society are more encouraging and accept women side by side with them in the workforce. Second option is to create more female oriented jobs but that is probably not possible as accommodating all women in same fields is not always practical as this will concentrate women on some jobs leaving others hence causing imbalance. Changing occupational system will require creating jobs for women workers and accommodating as much women as possible in the workforce to allow them to contribute to the economy of the country. This will also involve widening the job base and options for women so that they can come forward to offer their skills in varied fields. Finally, changing legislative environment will require setting quota for woman in every public and private sector organisation. At the same time it is important to ask the organisations to meet the quota set for them so as to ensure the quota is not there only on the papers but is also practiced. Conclusion and Recommendations This paper has analysed the role of women in the workforce in Saudi Arabia. The paper is based on bibliographic research where secondary data analysis is carried out. Library sources and data from books, journals and online sources were used to carry out analysis to draw conclusions. Secondary data analysis is a technique used in qualitative research studies where the findings are the outcome of an analysis of secondary sources. The paper found that Saudi women face several challenges when it comes to joining Saudi labour force. Even though the rate of literacy among Saudi women is higher than that of Saudi men but their participation in workforce is negligible. The figures are alarming (14% of total literate Saudi women are in the workforce) as less participation of women in the workforce means less contribution of a potential segment in the economy. Following are a few recommendations to increase the role of women in the workplaces in Saudi Arabia; Though government is taking steps like ‘Saudization policy’ to increase the participation of young people and women in the workforce however it is recommended that the government should bring changes in the cultural, occupational and legal system of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to increase women participation in the workforce. It will be a long process to bring about changes in the value system and culture of the workplaces in Saudi Arabia in order to induce acceptance for women in several different fields. However, it is recommended that the process should be started right away so that next decades could see clear contribution of women in its economic development. In order to change the occupational environment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, more jobs should be created in the occupations where society allows women to work. Besides, quotas for females in less acceptable posts/jobs should be generated to ensure their participation; this will also help create acceptance for women working in previously unacceptable positions. Legal system should be modified in order to accommodate Saudi women in the social process. This will require adding responsibilities on private and public sector organisations to include female to their organisations as a mandatory requirement. References Al-Harthi, M. A. (2000). The Political Economy of Labor in Saudi Arabia: The Causes of Labour Shortage. New York: Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. AlMunajjed, M. (2010). Women’s Employment in Saudi Arabia: A Major Challenge. Booz & Company - Ideation Center Insight. Available at: [Accessed on 17 March 2014] Al-Munajjed, M. (2014). Women’s Employment in Saudi Arabia: A Major Challenge. Saudi Gazette. Available at: [Accessed on 18 March 2014] Alsaleh, S. A. (2012). Gender Inequality in Saudi Arabia: Myth and Reality. International Proceedings of Economics Development & Research 39, pp. 123-130. Al Yousef, N. (2009). The Status of Women in the Arab Gulf Countries. KSA: King Saud University. Available at: [Accessed on 18 March 2014] Bahkali, W. A. (2012). The Issues of Work Life Balance for Saudi Women Workers. Master Thesis. New Zealand: The University of Waikato. Bashraheel, L. (2013). Steps taken to induct women in workforce. Saudi Gazette. Available at: [Accessed on 18 March 2014] Cooper, D., & Schindler, P. (2012). Business Research Methods. 11th ed. India: Tata McGraw-Hill. International Labour Office (n.d.) Discrimination at Work in the Middle East and North Africa – Fact Sheet. Available at: [Accessed on 18 March 2014] Reed, J. G., & Baxter, P.M. (2006). Bibliographic Research. In F. T. L. Leong & J. T. Austin (eds.). The Psychology Research Handbook, pp. 41-58. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Ridley, D. (2012). The Literature Review: A Step-by-Step Guide for Students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Shaikh, H. (2007). The Changing Role of Women in Saudi Arabia. Al-Hayat. Singh, Y. K., & Bajpai, R. B. (2008). Research Methodology: Techniques & Trends. New Delhi: APH Publishing. Wigren, C. (2007). Assessing the Quality of Qualitative Research in Entrepreneurship. In: Neergaard, H., & Ulhøi, J. P. (eds.). Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods in Entrepreneurship. USA: Edward Elgar Publishing. Yamani, M. (1996). Some Observations on women in Saudi Arabia. In: M. Yamani (ed.). Feminism and Islam: Legal and Literary Perspectives, pp. 263-282. New York: New York University Press. Read More