Saudi Career Fair Focuses On Bringing Women Into Workforce

An employment initiative is underway in Saudi Arabia to get more women into the kingdom's workforce. The career fair is aimed at students and university graduates, with workshops offering career guidance and interview techniques.

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA (APRIL 15, 2013) (REUTERS) -  Hundreds of women took part in a career fair in the Saudi capital of Riyadhthat focused on bringing women into the workforce.

In a country where women are banned from driving and need the permission of a close male relative to work, travel and even have certain kinds of surgery, female employment is a major battleground between traditionalists and those who want change.Women account for only seven percent of Saudis employed by private companies but make up almost half of all Saudis listed as looking for work, according to 2009 government figures.

In this conservative Islamic kingdom, where gender segregation is strictly enforced, paid employment has traditionally been seen as an all-male preserve. The fact that even lingerie shops were mostly staffed by men until last year had for years been seen by many Saudi women as an absurdity.

Saudi political watchers said King Abdullah has tried to push cautious change, including a decision two years ago to hire more women in private companies, but powerful conservatives have pushed him toward the middle ground.

But change, while slow, has been happening.

"More than 160 thousand women have been employed in the private sector since the King's decision," Ibrahim al-Moaiqel, head of the Human Resources Development Fund, told an audience of mostly women attending "A Step Ahead" career fair on Monday (April 15).

"This is in comparison to the overall number of women employed in the time before that, more than 30 years, which did not exceed 70 thousand women."

Social opposition is far from the only obstacle in the way of Saudi women who want to work.

Not only do they need the permission of a father, elder brother or husband, but given the ban on women driving and lack of good public transport they need to hire a driver or rely on a male relative who can drop them off.

But despite the traditional and cultural constraints, women taking up jobs has become somewhat of a necessity even for oil rich Saudis, as explained by Saudi student Ala'a.

"The reason women are getting jobs now is because as a wife, mother and sister she needs to help and contribute to the household, especially given the recent rise in the cost of living."

For employers the situation is just as difficult. They have to conform to strict segregation requirements that ensure unmarried men and women will not be placed in the sort of unchaperoned proximity that could incur the wrath of the religious police.

That need for segregated facilities helps explain the huge disparity between the number of Saudi women working for private companies and the much larger number holding government posts: girls' schools and other all-female environments make it much easier to obey the rules.

But for all the difficulties, private companies want to employ Saudi women, who are perceived by some as particularly keen to work hard, said Khaled al-Khudair, the founder of a women's online employment agency that started up in 2011.

His company, Glowork, one of the main sponsors and organisers of "A Step Ahead" career fair, advertises jobs pitched specifically at Saudi women. He said 7,500 female job applicants signed up for his site following its launch.

"The initial idea was to have an electronic website linking female job seekers with potential employers, so companies would advertise job vacancies on the website and job seekers send their resume and then there would be an electronic match through the website," al-Khudair said, adding that Glowork has created thousands of job opportunities for women.

"Since our launch and until now, we have created about 11 thousand new job opportunities for Saudi women. On our website, there are about one thousand new jobs each month."

The career fair in Riyadh offered workshops and career advice for Saudi women seeking employment, including university students, recent graduates and people looking for better job opportunities.

Recent trends have signalled an effort to change the role and view of women in the wealthy Gulf kingdom.

Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah swore in the country's first female members of the Shura Council, an appointed body that advises on new laws, although the move riled conservative clerics in the Islamic monarchy.

With one fifth of the new council being women, the Shura Council remodelled parts of its chamber to ensure strict gender segregation between members was maintained.

Also this year, the government licensed women's sports clubs for the first time, a major step for the ultra-religious country where clerics had warned against female exercise.

Muna Abusulayman is a role model for many women in Saudi Arabia who hope to defy tradition in the face of success.

She is a popular TV personality presenting a show focusing on women's issues, has been named a Young Leader by the World Economic Forum, was the first Saudi woman to be appointed Goodwill Ambassador by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and in 2009 was selected as one of the most influential Muslims in the world.

"My advice to any woman looking for work is to latch onto anything she can find as a starting point," said Abusulayman on the sidelines of the career fair.

"Many women wait until they get the right job and years pass, making their employment difficult because companies ask 'Why did you spend four or five years without work?' If a girl can't find a job, I suggest she signs onto training programs or takes part in volunteer work to show she was not sitting idle and prove to potential employers her seriousness about work," she added.

While more women than men graduate from higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia, the labour market has so far failed to catch up.

"My area of focus is graphic design and digital media and I have a special interest in media. But at the moment there are no work opportunities in the field of directing or in having a woman as a director," Nada Abu Setah, a Jordanian student studying InSaudi Arabia said.

Around 1000 Saudi women took part in the 'A Step Ahead' career fair, with top universities from across the kingdom also participating in the events.