Women, Family and the Discovery of Oil in Saudi Arabia

Twenty Fourteen is a turning point for Suadi women. In that year the prices of oil collapsed causing a recession in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The country’s economy was damaged severely because of that. Many businesses have closed, and others are suffering to stay alive. Therefore the government has decided to boost its production to grow the economy and end the recession. This transformation needs women’s contribution, in which it is going to help the economic growth by increasing labor and therefore rise production rate.

Hence, the Saudi government is making efforts to bring women to the workforce by supporting women’s rights and giving them more freedom.

Consequently, women entering the workforce will have great effects on women’s role regarding family matters and working in different fields. Prince Mohammad bin Salman developed the vision of 2030 that emphasizes the need for reformation to witness economic growth. Twenty Thirty vision is aiming to diversify the country’s economic resources and be less dependent on oil (2030 vision, 2018). Female workers are essential to derive this transformation. The more citizens enter the workforce, the more production there will be. However, there are many difficulties keep women away from the workforce, so the Saudi government has started to ease the path from women to enter the workplace.

According to Martin Hvidt (2018), only 20% of Saudi women are working. The reason behind this small number of female workers, Havidt argues, goes to traditional and religious reasons that expect women to stay at home and give her full attention to her family. Moreover, Havidt points, the struggle of finding transportation is another obstacle that prevents many from working; women had been banned from driving since 1979 for “religious reasons,” and there is no public transportation. Since women could not enter different work fields with having those obstacles in the way, the Saudi government has been showing an effort to ease the path for women to patriciate more in all sectors.

Therefore, Mohammad bin Salman has lifted the driving ban early this year. It might be a small step, but it could have a great outcome in the long-run. Also, the government banned child marriage. The ban would have a great impact over girls future; they would have more time to think more about Education and less about life companion. Lastly, the government allowed gender mixing in many jobs. ( Sarah Hassan, 2018) Women entering the workforce would change women’s role in a family scale since they are going to breadwinners.

Saudi society has always treated a woman as a housewife only, whose job is to take care of her kids and listen to her husband and does as he wishes. This mistreatment might have gotten less extreme in the last decade but, unfortunately, it still exists. In the article “Women, Family and the Discovery of Oil in Saudi Arabia,” Salwa Al-khateeb talks about that changes that Saudi society encountered after the discovery of oil, and how this affected the Saudi family, Saudi women in particular.

According to Salwa Alkhateeb, an anthropologist who is currently a deputy of higher education in a College of girls, after the discovery of oil, many women’s jobs had become less significant to the family, and man became the primary source of income to the Suadi family. Nonetheless, the recession has changed the Saudi family lifestyle. Many families are in need for a second source of income as the man income in it is own is not enough. In the last year, more women are trying to find jobs or open a small business. Having a job is going to give women more freedom in the family because they are going to independent and strong. Husbands, hence, cannot ignore their wives when it comes to making family decisions and they have to respect their wives.

Moreover, men can no more expect their wives to be around all day to take care of the kids, so they would have to help with housework. To sum up, it is unfortunate for a country to get in a depression, but ironically this might be the only way women could get their freedom. Until now, only a few small steps have been taken to improve women’s situation, but many laws do not support women like guardianship law. According to Margaret Coker (2018), guardianship law state that women have to be dependent on a male guardian for basic legal needs. This law would be the biggest barrier in the way of women freedom. However, looking at how women’s situation today, gives hope for a brighter future, where women and men are equal in all aspects of life. A world without gender discrimination is what many women dream. It will not be easy to reach there, but it is still possible as long as we believe.

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