IN Saudi Arabia women still can’t drive, yet they’re entering the work force in droves.
The number of employed Saudi women has surged by 48 percent since 2010, more than double the rate for men, according to the country’s Central Department of Statistics and Information.
The change is especially noticeable in the private sector, where women can now be seen in an abaya and head scarf working as supermarket cashiers or selling lingerie in a high-end shopping mall.
“It’s a fascinating social phenomenon,’’ said David Butter, Middle East analyst and an associate fellow at Chatham House in London.
In the decade leading up to his death earlier this year, the late King Abdullah set in motion policies that have improved the lives of Saudi women limited by the social and economic constraints imposed by the Wahhabi strain of Sunni Islam.
Under Abdullah, women were given equal voting rights in local elections and some were appointed for the first time to the country’s 150-member advisory body. Universities have expanded areas of study available to female students, including law and architecture. Female graduates from Saudi universities made up 49.6 percent of the total in 2014.
Saudi Arabia still lags the majority of Middle East countries, themselves among the world’s worst in terms of gender equality. Women make up only 16.4 percent of Saudis with jobs and account for 60.3 percent of the unemployed.
The pressure is on 79-year-old King Salman to build on his half-brother’s legacy. Since ascending to the throne in January, he hasn’t rolled back the changes—though he also hasn’t made any moves to improve the status of women either.
Image credits: Omar Salem/AFP/Getty Images