Viewed from a certain angle, Saudi Arabia has made impressive strides in recent years in closing the gender wage gap. Saudi law now prohibits gender wage discrimination, as well as discriminatory hiring practices. Women can at last access financial services as freely as men, not to mention travel to work without the permission of a male guardian. For a country that 20 years ago had one of the worst gender inequality ratings in the world, Saudi women today have the right to participate in the country’s economy as never before.

Behind these changes is Vision 2030, a vast government project aimed at diversifying the Saudi economy away from falling oil revenue. Since the project’s launch in 2016, sweeping reforms have radically altered women’s position in society. Today the World Bank ranks Saudi Arabia as one of the top Middle Eastern countries on its Women, Business and the Law Index, a measure of women’s legal equality when pursuing economic activity. 

Nevertheless, whatever equal rights exist on paper, these have not yet translated into equal earnings for Saudi women. Female unemployment in the country remains nearly 10 times that of male unemployment, with 22.6% of adult women out of work according to UN Women. Where there is employment, the gender wage gap in Saudi Arabia remains significant: as high as 49% in the private sector. For every 100 riyals that a man earns, a woman earns 51.

The Situation

Given Saudi Arabia’s recent reforms, the legal barriers that once restricted women’s access to the economy no longer explain this difference in wages. Nor is a lack of education to blame: the female literacy rate, as low as 57% in 1992, is currently more than 95%. Saudi women now make up a slight majority in the country’s universities and are as likely as men to achieve a Bachelor’s degree. Yet despite the equity in lecture halls, female graduates still struggle to earn the same as their male counterparts. According to the OECD, only 41% of tertiary-educated women were in employment in 2018, compared to 94% of tertiary-educated men.

This situation points to continued gender discrimination and the limits of legal reforms alone in addressing the gender wage gap in Saudi Arabia. Equality Now, an NGO advocating for the human rights of women and girls, notes “unsettling discrepancies” between the progress made in the country and the reality for women living there. Despite headline-grabbing reforms granting women the right to drive, a system of male guardianship continues to dictate many aspects of female lives. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International this year both criticized the country’s new Personal Status Law — labeled “progressive” by the Saudi government — as formally codifying this male guardianship over women.

The Saudi workplace clearly needs cultural changes if women are to have acceptance and receive support and fair pay compared to their male colleagues. There are signs, however, that the ruling House of Saud is serious about capitalizing on the potential of its female citizens and integrating them into the economy — even if it is only willing to do so on its own terms. 

Alnahda’s Efforts

Alnahda, a nonprofit closely linked to the royal family, is one organization advocating a more prominent role for women in Saudi society. Its mission, as stated on its website, is to promote a social environment that values women’s participation and prepares them for leadership roles. Alongside the government’s own Vision 2030, Alnahda shares the goal of getting more Saudi women into the workforce. The country has made undeniable progress toward this goal.

Between 2018 and 2020, female labor participation in Saudi Arabia rose by two-thirds, and 50% of women aged 15-24 are now in work. This represents a sea change not only for women’s rights in the country but also for the fight against female poverty. In 2017 the UN’s Special Rapporteur observed how, being excluded from employment, many female-headed Saudi households were reliant on charity and extended family for survival. Access to secure jobs should in theory make life less precarious for those women previously tied to private aid. The challenge for the future, however, will be ensuring the government makes good on the promise of equal wages for women enshrined in law.

– Alex Russell
Photo: Flickr