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How Do Women Rights in Saudi Arabia Transfer to Economic Development?
Abstract
The main purpose of this research was to analyze the impact of increased women’s rights in Saudi Arabia on economic development. The study aimed to develop an understanding of women’s empowerment and its contribution to economic development. The method used to analyze the data was the empirical assessment method. This approach was used to observe women exposed to democratic and non-democratic environments to determine how these settings impacted their ability to participate in labor markets. Analysis of the findings showed that women exposed to a democratic environment were more productive than those exposed to a non-democratic environment. This is because giving women more freedom and rights enhances their ability to pursue their dreams and realize their full potential. This, in turn, contributes to the growth of the economy. The study also showed that firms that hire more women and accord them equal rights with men perform better in terms of customer satisfaction and financial performance than those that do not. This is because women bring new skills and abilities to the workplace that allow an organization to be more productive. Based on these findings, this research suggests that the Saudi government should undertake more reforms aimed at empowering women as this can play a major role in helping the Saudi economy to become more resilient.
Table of Contents
Abstract 2
Introduction 4
Background of the Study 4
Problem Statement 5
Purpose and Objectives of the Study 6
Outline of Methodology 6
Research Significance 7
Literature Review 8
Introduction 8
Barriers to female empowerment prior to a market-based economy 9
The Role of Vision 2030 in Improving Women’s Rights 11
Methodology 18
Findings 20
Discussion 23
Conclusion 26
References 27
Introduction
Background of the Study
Economic development is a concept that delineates concerted actions taken for the purpose of promoting the economic health and the standard of living of a country. According to Michael Porter, a renowned economist and one of the world’s most influential thinkers on competitiveness and management, economic development is a long-term process of creating interdependent microeconomic incentives and capabilities to support the economic progress of a nation (Porter, 2010). Economic development is measured using economic indicators such as GDP rate, inflation, literacy rate, and poverty (Boserup et al., 2013). Investing in women’s economic empowerment and enhancing their ability to participate equally in economic growth are critical steps to boosting a country’s productivity and increasing its economic diversification and other positive development outcomes.
Over the past decades, the role of women in Saudi’s economic development suffered from numerous constraints such as lack of education and limited access to employment opportunities as a result of cultural and religious barriers (ALkhteeb & Sultan, 2014). These deterrents led to systemic discrimination of women that has set Saudi Arabia apart from the rest of the world for decades (Alotaibi & Potoglou, 2018). In recent years, however, the country has realized that women have a critical role to play in the economic development of the country, and their empowerment is vital to the nation’s human capital development. Over the past three years, Saudi has witnessed the sensational transformation of female empowerment and increased participation of women in society and the workforce (Al-Kwifi et al., 2020). Women in the country can now operate their own businesses without the need for male guardian approval, which was previously a prerequisite under the guardianship system. The eased aspects of the system have also granted women independent access to education, jobs, and government services without the need for prior consent.
Problem Statement
The problem statement was to analyze how more women’s rights in Saudi Arabia transfer to economic development. Saudi Arabia is a predominantly Sunni Muslim country that incorporates elements of sharia in its legal systems, particularly in family law. Even though this law encourages women to work, it has been integrated with restrictive cultural practices that inhibit the ability of women to participate equally in economic development (Alfarran et al., 2018). Under these cultural practices, women were subjected to systematic discrimination, forced into marriage, exposed to domestic abuse, and their basic human rights eroded for many years. They were also not allowed to earn and manage their own finances that would enable them to be financially independent (Alsubaie & Jones, 2017). In recent years, however, numerous reforms have been enacted that have led to significant development of women’s rights in the Kingdom. These reforms that began to take effect in the 2000s has seen women take up elective positions for the first time in the country’s history. In 2015, women were allowed to vote and vie as candidates for the first time, and in 2018 driving ban for Saudi women was lifted. Following these latest reforms to advance women’s rights, this research aimed to establish the contribution of increased rights for Saudi women towards the country’s economic development.
Purpose and Objectives of the Study
The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of increased women’s rights in Saudi Arabia on economic development. The research purpose was achieved through the objectives outlined below:
To examine how women’s rights in Saudi Arabia have changed
To investigate the evolving economic role of Saudi Women
To explore the positive impact of women empowerment on economic development
Outline of Methodology
The empirical assessment method was used in this research to help understand how the increased rights of women in Saudi Arabia impact the country’s economic development. This is an evidence-based approach to the study that relies on real-world data, rather than concepts and theories (Hallinger, 2014). The study is based on the notion that knowledge is obtained through experience. As such, researchers using this approach derive results through observation or experiment. In this research, the approach was used to observe women exposed to democratic and non-democratic environments to determine how these settings impacted their productivity. The method was considered for this study because of its attribute of being efficient and reliable. Empirical research represents a real-life experience and not just theories, which makes data gathered through the approach less biased because the researcher is there during the collection process (Al-Bakr et al., 2017). As a result, the method is used by a wide range of researchers and scientists to obtain accurate data. It is this attribute that makes this modality productive and critical in the proliferation of obtaining the desired data in this research activity.
Research Significance
The topic regarding women’s rights in Saudi Arabia is a context that entails the proliferation of tackling a complex environment defined by distinctive challenges. Based on the concepts such as women not getting allowed to drive but only consider the family’s upbringing, the topic was interesting to discuss. Religious context defining attributes such as divorce and marrying also provides an exquisite position to address within the article. By assessing the encompassing and plight of Saudi women, this research can interest feminists and women empowerment groups. Insofar, I understand that women play an integral role in economic development. For instance, by investing in women’s education, the economic attributes of the Saudi kingdom have valiantly improved (Al-Bakr et al., 2017; Alfarran et al., 2018). The dependency on oil inclines to shift as the burden gets mitigated by an educated population that considers the embrace of secondary activities as gleaned. The research paper identified and analyzed how women’s rights in Saudi Arabia have distinctly impacted the economic growth of the place. Women incline to be in a better position since the initiation of fundamental rights and liberties by the Saudi government.
Literature Review
Introduction
Critical research by various scholars and agencies are on the verge of developing logical writing on the relationship between Saudi women’s rights and economic development. There are significant questions regarding women in Saudi Arabia. Tuccio & Wahba (2018) show that the specific need to provide clarity regarding women’s performance in Saudi is an area of interest that strikes many individuals among the population. Various research gets considered to determine the impact of women’s rights on the country’s economic development. Numerous studies show that social norms and cultural practices are a key hindrance to women’s economic participation (Al-Kwifi et al., 2020; Alfarran et al., 2018). For instance, Al-Kwifi et al. (2020) observe that Saudi women are required to work in places segregated from men. Also, men play a critical role in women’s labor supply decisions. In order to work, cultural practices imply that women are supposed to receive approval from their male “guardian,” typically the father or the husband (Alotaibi & Potoglou, 2018). As a result, it has always been challenging to achieve enhanced performance among the women (Bloom et al., 2017). This is the crucial element that resulted in considering adopting various modalities to enhance the role of women in economic development. The substantial aspect of initiating equality and equity is a propagation that entails the creation of opportunities for everyone. The need for women’s participation in society is of top priority, as gleaned from the research context, by uplifting laws that deter women from realizing their full potential (Alotaibi & Potoglou, 2018; Alfarran et al., 2018).
Barriers to female empowerment prior to a market-based economy
Saudi Arabia and its labor market are currently undergoing a large-scale transformation that is intended to boost the country’s economic growth. In recent years, the country has adopted a market-based economic model that has seen its key sectors, including trade, industrial, and financial sectors make rapid progress, which has enabled them to play an increasingly important role in the development and diversification of the economy (Al-Bakr et al., 2017). The adoption of the new economic model has also contributed to major reforms that are aimed at unlocking the full potential of the nation’s competitive advantage and creating a sustainable future for the country. The reforms, which are anchored on macroeconomic stability, also aim to empower women to actively participate in the country’s economic development at a much higher rate and lower their rate of unemployment (Alsubaie & Jones, 2017). Under these reforms, the Saudi government is dedicated to ensuring that women acquire the skills and opportunities needed to take an active part in the country’s economic expansion.
However, prior to the push for a market-based economy, female empowerment did not occur for various reasons. Key among these reasons was the guardianship system that was based on the Hanbali School of Sunni Islam. For decades, this system has been used to justify restricting women’s ability to travel, acquire higher education, marry, or access health care without the permission of a male guardian (Alotaibi et al., 2021). Under this institutionalized system of guardianship, every adult woman was required to have a male guardian who controlled her daily life. Normally, it was a husband, a father, a brother, or a son who made critical decisions regarding a woman´s life.
All Saudi women, regardless of economic or social status, were subjected to this system. Women were required to seek male guardian approval in matters such as marriage, travel, education, and work (Eum, 2013). This system was grounded in a very restrictive interpretation of an ambiguous Quranic verse, which states that men are the maintainers and protectors of women because God has given them more strength (Topal, 2019). This interpretation was strongly challenged by religious scholars, Islamic feminists, human rights groups, and dozens of Saudi women. Although there were no written legal provisions that explicated this system, the whole Saudi community was bound by this practice.
The status of Saudi women was also determined by traditional practices that set out strict gender segregation. These practices prohibited men and women who are not barred from marriage by incest rules from interacting in group or individual settings (Rizvi & Hussain, 2021). Women could work outside the home but only in an environment where they did not interact with unrelated men. This meant that women were mainly employed in institutions that catered to women such as girls’ schools, women’s sections of universities, nursing and medicine for women, and social work and development programs for women (Alnufaie, 2020). These practices were often sanctioned by law which mandated how women could work, where they could live, what they could wear, and whether they could take part in society matters. Women who peacefully challenged these laws were often arrested and jailed or subjected to physical abuse, sexual harassment, and death threats (Alotaibi et al., 2021). Limitations based on cultural and religious practices denied Saudi women the opportunity to live independently and control their own destiny.
Active involvement of women in the labor market was also hampered by cultural norms and legal restrictions on women employment and mobility that made it costly to hire women, making expatriate workers and Saudi men more cost-effective alternatives (Topal, 2019). The cost of employing women exceeded their wage rate because businesses had to invest in separate workplaces to ensure female workers did not interact with unrelated men (Topal, 2019). Most companies could not afford this and thus avoided hiring female employees, which lowered employment opportunities for women (Alotaibi et al., 2021). Also, most traditional workplaces were not designed to accommodate female workers, particularly in the private sector, and this discouraged women candidates to apply for employment opportunities. In addition, the ban on driving was a major hindrance to women’s employment because it made transportation to and from work very costly for female workers (Rizvi & Hussain, 2021). The other challenge involved strict labor laws that barred women from working in hazardous occupations. Other challenges for women’s employment and empowerment included language barriers, lack of experience, lack of appropriate jobs, and the challenge of balancing work life and family responsibilities, as well as the difficulty of working long hours.
The Role of Vision 2030 in Improving Women’s Rights
The vision 2030 strategizes to include Saudi women in the development of its economy. Today, there are many Saudi women in managerial and other top positions. It is a culture that portends to enhance by the day, as garnered from the research. The new reforms enacted plays a central role in ensuring that women get the freedom to pursue their dreams to promote participation in economic development. It is a propagation that reflects positively on the country and neighboring communities. Alsubaie & Jones (2017) projects that creating strategic measures to achieve equity is a mandate the Saudi population is adapting to. With the inclusion of education in the transformative context, Saudi lifts the burden of gender inequality. Through this modality, more women have been able to secure jobs and become independent. Education is an intervention that enables society to generate proactive solutions to solving specific problems. Every government in the world must view this to be substantial (Bloom et al., 2017). Efficient resource allocation in the education sector is a paradigm that enhances women’s ability to perform. The world is changing, and the need to change starts with a population that is aware. At the same time, education related to promoting opportunities and consumption helps to reinforce, legitimize, and foster the prevailing economic model. This arguably leads to a change in a culture to a market value mindset. It also may help to eliminate restrictive cultural norms in a country and promote cultural convergence on a global scale.
Saudi women are assets yet to get exploited by increased talent development and investing in women’s productivity. Al-Kwifi et al. (2020) reflect that society and economic encompassing are areas that consider the inclusion of everyone. The blueprint to developing the economy is democracy and sharing ideas. Restricting the women to participate in specific activities deters their performance. An inspiration is seemingly the proactive standard required to instill the culture of performance among the population (Alfarran et al., 2018). The remodeling of the economy of Saudi gets attained through the stance of following the measures that include:
Giving the women an education
Letting the women drive
Allowing the women to work
Involving women in decision making
Including women in top positions
These are proactive actions that have worked for other states. The bold reforms have seen women reap the benefits of freedom, and economic growth gets experienced in a measure that constitutes the dimension of increased opportunity creation. Naseem & Dhruva (2017) show that accessibility is a paradigm that will continue to create enhanced societal development as garnered from the research. Fields including medical fraternity, media, entertainment, and science are on the verge of accommodating more women to foster a robust growth pattern. It is elemental to understand that diversity initiates the positive growth of society. The dynamics of the world are changing, and the need to influence the Sharia laws gets necessary. Although Sharia Law does not encourage the restriction of women’s rights, it has been applied indiscriminately to inhibit the potential of women to contribute to the development of society. Alsubaie & Jones (2017) stipulate a substantial initiation that the government has helped shift over time. It gets projected that the Saudi kingdom has enhanced its position in world economics since it included women in major economic activities. The statistics show that employment opportunities for women have increased, initiating the economic growth of the state. By allowing the women to drive without the companion of a male individual, the auto industry portends to benefit from increased profitability. There are other distinctive indirect benefits on the macroeconomic level that improve the country’s economic growth and development (Al-Bakr et al., 2017).
The distinctive reforms initiated by the Saudi government propagates the development of opportunity creation for everyone. Men and women get included in various positions based on their abilities. Today, embracing Saudi vision 2030 is a continuing process that enhances the dependence on new reforms that portends to make society more economically viable (Bloom et al., 2017). The increased access to social amenities associates with the increased development of a transformation that limits the boundaries to realizing general economic progress. It is fundamental to understand that girls and boys in Saudi today have equal opportunities to seek increased involvement in various agendas. Tuccio & Wahba (2018) indicates that it is an inclination that sparks other worlds to engage in the guardianship of enhancing the creation of a positive world for the mixed environment. The most substantial means of doing away with uncertainty is a scope that gets appreciated by letting the women engage in economic contributions. The country’s development in specific dimensions’ entails enhancing critical performance in admirable activities that define equity and equality. Despite the attribute of significant changes in Saudi operations, distinct inclusions still do not get considered to have experienced a substantial transformation (Bloom et al., 2017).
Technically, the circulation of resources gets attained by the approach of empowering women. It is a position that constitutes the stance of reducing the dependency of women. Under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia has created a distinct environment that fosters the realization of equity (Alotaibi & Potoglou, 2018). It is a propagation that constitutes modernizing society and doing away with traditions that make minimal opportunities for increased performance. According to Sabir & Zenaidi (2019), it is elemental to understand that societal abuse has reduced among women. The dynamic of influencing the end of state-forced segregation accounts for the country’s economic prosperity. Today, living in Saudi as a woman involves facing minimal challenges compared to living in the kingdom before 2017, where significant reforms got considered. Empowerment agencies and feminists continue to ensure that the kingdom avails favorable modalities that propagate increased state development. It is substantial to understand that the long-term effects of empowering women associates with a robust economy, political, and social institutions. The controversy of power struggle is a distinction that does not apply in this context as gleaned (Al-Bakr et al., 2017). It is prolific to associate critical development with the scope of observable features defined in the methodology section.
Generally, the implementation of women’s rights has positively influenced the development of the Saudi economy. This is because social and cultural barriers that thwarted the freedom of women and inhibited their participation in economic activities are being deal with, thus boosting women’s economic empowerment (Al-Ghalib et al., 2018). Many sources have invested funds in educating women, a section that previously got assumed. The combined efforts have created the dimension of influencing the creation of equity and equality (Alfarran et al., 2018). It is a proliferation that has propagated questioning of religious and cultural beliefs. Specific beliefs and values are essential compared to others. The critical concept that must get used to managing society includes weighting on the importance of each cultural norm. This way, the impact of women in societal activities will get experienced firsthand. The shift in traditional and modern encompassing indicates a diverse difference where traditional context gets defined by rigidity whereas current context gets defined by flexibility. Tuccio & Wahba (2018) show that the disposition of having women’s rights enhanced also portends to associate with the development of specific challenges addressed in the discussion section. The primary reliance on men is outdated and infuses a significant burden on men leading to slow growth. The Saudi government recognizes the changing times and adapts to them to ensure it creates a prosperous future for its population (Al-Ghalib et al., 2018). Empowering women is integral in encouraging various agencies to fight for the best for society and economic growth.
The labor force experiences a spike in women joining in facilitating the scope of increased economic productivity. Saudi Arabia’s women’s participation rate in the labor force rose from 37% to 40% between 2019 and 2020, as indicated by the Saudi General Authority for Statistics (GaStat) (2020). The context of education plays a distinct role in increasing the representation of women in the labor force. Most women that joined the labor force involved two categories. As indicated by the research, those with secondary education and women between the ages of 40 and 54 (Ng, 2021). The labor force projects a progressive rise of women joining the workplace; it is a measure that creates the positive growth of the economy. The initiatives to change the economic and societal rules by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has created a sharp increase of women in various productive areas such as driving and education (Ng, 2021). The programs of improving the participation of women in the workforces seem to become a success within the decade. Non-governmental organizations and Human Rights Watch indicate that with the increased scope of uplifting rights detention, the women will influence the growth of Saudi in general.
Figure 1: Increase in the empowerment of Saudi women
The Saudi job market projects a shift with more rights that let women join the labor force. The employment rate has risen from 68% to 76%, including more rights for women to attend work (Ng, 2021). The growth of various sectors within the economy incurs positive growth from the implementation of labor reforms. A 40% growth rate of the industries gets influenced by the women’s performance in the labor force (Ng, 2021). The stance of increasing opportunities for women in employment plays a critical role in promoting economic development. It is substantial to understand that Saudi continues to empower women to propagate a successful future. The puzzle of unemployment is a negative derivative as garnered from the research. Ng (2021) implies that the Saudi government must propagate increased standards to ensure the development of a robust labor force that defines its increased performance.
Methodology
The research constituted the exploitation of an empirical assessment to help understand the plight of women in Saudi Arabia by getting exposed to more rights. The primary reason for considering this method was due to its attribute of being efficient in exploitation. Empirical assessment entailed observing women exposed to a democratic and a non-democratic environment (Al-Bakr et al., 2017). Typically, it is essential to understand that empirical assessment has gotten exploited to obtain accurate data by scientists. This is the scope that made this modality productive and critical in the proliferation of obtaining the desired data in this research activity. Knowledge experienced by sensorial information inclines to last and influence positive dimensions as developed by distinct research. In the observational experience of exposing various women to an environment with democracy, their progressive productivity will get taken into account. Naseem & Dhruva (2017) indicates that the expectation is that the women must exhibit a positive dimensional change. This includes their scope of thinking and addressing various modalities that define their efficiency in performing specific activities. Democracy must consist of getting an education and significant empowerment to voice out their grievances that must get considered by the general society. The second group of women was exposed to an environment defined by non-democratic traits. The group was scrutinized to distinctly create an understanding of their prolific performance in diverse activities. Their general progress in addressing various issues was accounted for and recorded for the proliferation of understanding the performance of an economy that limits the women from attending specific considerations. The experimentation helped to establish how more and fewer women’s rights affect economic growth (Al-Kwifi et al., 2020; Alfarran et al., 2018). The foundation for economic growth got its recommendation from this research study as stipulated in the paper. With distinct support from secondary and primary sources, a critical distinction helped define the previous developments initiated regarding the elemental empowering of women. Naseem & Dhruva (2017) imply that exposure to the two environments is a disposition that helps create an understanding of the need for equity and equality within society. Saudi is a case that depicts an enhanced economy from the module of equipping women with more rights. Compared to the past trends before letting women engage in economic activities, the kingdom constrained economic growth and development. Today, Saudi is among the most developing economies. Reforms play a vital role in the enhancement of societal change as gleaned from this context.
Findings
The findings of the study showed that women exposed to a democratic environment were more productive than women exposed to a non-democratic environment. This is because giving women more freedom and rights enhances their ability to pursue their dreams and realize their full potential. The results also revealed that huge economic gains are derived from giving women equal rights with men and eliminating the barriers that impede their participation in the labor force. This is because women bring new skills and abilities to the workplace, including different perspectives on risk and collaboration that allow an organization to be more productive. The study also showed that expanding women’s ability to travel outside their homes, start businesses, and own property makes them more productive. This also allows them to achieve their full potential by utilizing their skills and abilities to earn independent incomes. In addition, the study showed that when women are allowed to earn and manage their own finances, they become engaged customers and even suppliers for local businesses, thus helping to grow the local economy.
The findings also showed that businesses that hire more women and accord them equal rights with men perform better in terms of production, sales, customer satisfaction, and financial performance than those which largely rely on male workers or hire women but deny them equal rights. This is because higher equality between male and female workers under the same organization results in a more efficient and harmonious surrounding that encourage all employees to work to their level best, thus promoting the firm’s growth greatly. Also, in a harmonious work environment, both men and women possess diverse skills and experiences that complement each other in the workplace, thus creating an additional benefit for the organization.
Further, this research revealed that a more equalized distributed workforce between male and female workers contributes to greater and better solutions to organizational problems. This is because female workers are more likely than male workers to educate themselves about the challenges facing the organization and come up with appropriate solutions. Also, women were found to be more likely to speak out against discrimination, as well as mentor other workers, thus enhancing workplace productivity. Further, the study observed that firms that build a culture which fully leverages the merits of diversity – one in which female employees, and all workers in general, feel comfortable bringing their special experiences, skills, and ideas to the table derive more economic gains from their workforce. This is because when both male and female workers are valued and their inputs are respected, they are more likely to be happy in their jobs, which helps to improve a company’s productivity and profitability.
This research also observed various ways through which women’s economic empowerment enhances women’s rights and gender equality, which in turn, contributes to economic growth. Women in a democratic setting were found to have a higher ability to participate equally in labor markets through access to decent jobs, access to critical productive resources and business networks, increased voice, and significant control over their time, bodies, and lives. Also, the study showed that the majority of these women were able to participate in key economic decision-making at all levels from the household to the workplace. This empowerment not only helped to boost women’s productivity and income equality but also led to a reduction in gender-based inequality. This implies that the Saudi government can effectively promote the country’s economic growth and development by developing appropriate gender equality policies that require all organizations to balance welfare treatment between male and female workers.
On the contrary, the findings showed that women exposed to an environment defined by non-democratic traits were less productive, with no income, career, or plan for the future. The majority of those observed were burdened with household obligations, including child and eldercare responsibilities. The study also found that women exposed to this kind of environment were likely to experience gender-related issues, including sexual harassment and gender-based violence. Also, a large proportion of these women had limited access to resources, including land, capital, credit, technology, technological skills, and business and social networks. This restricted their economic opportunities by limiting their access to employment, information, and networks. The findings also showed that women in this environment were likely to be exposed to occupational segregation that often degrades women to jobs that are considered less valuable and thus pay lower wages. These findings help to illustrate how social and cultural norms inhibit women’s labor market participation and economic empowerment, which in turn, restricts their ability to contribute to the country’s economic development.
Discussion
Various groups and agencies champion the context of increased rights for Saudi women. The goal is to initiate progress in society as experienced in areas that value and appreciate women’s synergy. A major national success stands to get gained by the stance of involving women in essential economic matters. Tuccio & Wahba (2018) provide that influencing a positive mindset gets attained, which associates with creating satisfaction within society. Empowering women benefits everyone. The women incline to reap in modalities that include being financially independent. The degree of independence among women plays an integral role in influencing economic development in various ways. First, the women incline to enjoy the disposition of enhanced project completion. With the availability of resources, women can initiate community projects and pursue a better life with minimal issues of bothering the male population. This positive culture encourages the feminine world to exploit its potential and avoid the culture of dependency. Empowering women through financial independence stands to initiate the dimension of broadening the perspective of life (Al-Ghalib et al., 2018). With continued reforms, society will balance and secure significant advantages defined by the prolific realization of equity.
Saudi Arabia’s future portends to get brighter by the involvement of women as part of its primary plan. The ambition to contribute positively to society gets attained by more women’s rights in place. Sabir & Zenaidi (2019) show that businesses incline to realize a boost, which reflects the GDP of the kingdom positively. More women’s rights depict the progressive integration of women into full participation in societal activities. Soon, a realization of growth in the sector that includes the labor market will get achieved (Bloom et al., 2017). Through the legislation that promotes gender equality, the socioeconomic profile inclines to get realized as gleaned from the research context. Overcoming the constraints that have always diminished women’s performance is a positive approach that exploits the various untapped potential of the female population in Saudi (Naseem & Dhruva, 2017). I believe that women can spice the existing talents and performance into a lucrative encompassing that constitutes the element of potential growth and development of economic encompassing in Saudi society. Encouraging entrepreneurship is a provision that will get attained with the increased embrace of positive incorporations within the community. Technically, various sentiments already indicate a positive effect of letting women engage in various societal activities.
Empowering women initiates the dimension of helping men perform different activities without constraints. Generally, financial contribution in families gets fostered when women have an education and secure employment. Al-Ghalib et al. (2018) show a disposition observed in other economies with liberal systems that practice democratic leadership. Poverty is also an area that gets addressed indirectly when women get empowered. Employing women is a revelation that deploys strategic enhancement of the standards of living. Women can effectively plan when they are independent. Incorporating this with support from the men fosters the inclination to create improved standards as gleaned from the study. Alsubaie & Jones (2017) show that it is fundamental to understand that the real-world impact of educating women and empowering them influences the element of general growth. The Saudi government is working towards a brighter future by installing various institutions and modalities to propagate increased performance among women. The proliferation of increasing resource availability plays a distinct role in ensuring society grows. The most strategic investment that Saudi has developed is the framework of letting the women engage in the more outstanding economic contribution of the Saudi kingdom (Alfarran et al., 2018).
Despite the benefits of empowering women with more rights that influence economic development, prospected problems get encountered. For instance, in the workplace, women stand to face discrimination and harassment. The potential thought of employers and other coworkers disregarding women is high, and this stands to initiate the scope of discrimination in the workplace and other encounters. Sabir & Zenaidi (2019) indicates that the realization of full appreciation of women is yet to achieve its potential. Through constant improvement, women will finally get appreciated for their impact on economic development. Through the reforms and development of new platforms that look at women differently, Saudi plays a substantial role in ensuring that society achieves its objective of facilitating the essence of growth among everyone, despite their gender, religious and political affiliations, and ethnic diversity (Naseem & Dhruva, 2017). Contrary to common perception, Saudi Arabia women will influence the growth of a controlled environment that facilitates the stance of shifting cultural norms and values. Cultural challenges stand to get encountered as it will get difficult to follow specific Sharia laws with increased empowerment of women. Generally, women had no voice in the Saudi kingdom before the different transformations and reforms were embraced. It is a distinction that creates the development of the defined issues discussed in the document.
Conclusion
More women’s rights are dimensions that stand to influence positive economic growth. Based on the research, the Saudi kingdom inclines to exploit untapped potential among women. The progressive inclusion of women in various societal agendas is a creative thought that has created a positive stance in economic, political, and social improvement. By considering a reform that does not limit women’s performance, the kingdom can reach its potential. Laws that include religious standards and cultural norms can get reconsidered to enhance equity that increases society’s performance. More investments must get made on women to build robust structures that influence a successful future. Other nations have deployed this context and enjoy increased development in their functionality, as gleaned from the research. It is a substantive context that rolls out to get adopted in Saudi for its general performance in world economics and creating a sustainable society. The critical areas of research consideration include finding out how inequality gets affected by cultural and religious beliefs. The development of how harassment impacts women’s performance in the workplace is also an area to consider. Women’s involvement in the labor force is dynamic for increased resilience in understanding the Saudi climate regarding growth. Society is an initiation that realizes growth and development through the involvement of everyone in it as garnered from the case.
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