Institutional barriers to women’s employment in Saudi Arabia

• Date: 18 September 2018
• Pages: 713-727
• Published date: 18 September 2018
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-08-2017-0159
• Author: Abeer Alfarran,Joanne Pyke,Pauline Stanton
• Subject Matter: HR & organizational behaviour,Employment law,Diversity, equality, inclusion

Institutional barriers to women’s

employment in Saudi Arabia

Abeer Alfarran and Joanne Pyke

College of Business, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia, and

Pauline Stanton

School of Management, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to explore the effectiveness of the Saudi employment programme

“Nitaqat”in addressing institutional barriers to women’s employment in the Saudi private sector. The paper

has a particular focus on the perspectives of unemployed women as the intended recipients of increased

employment opportunities.

Design/methodology/approach –This paper adopts a qualitative approach, drawing on findings from

face-to-face interviews conducted with two groups of stakeholders, government officials and unemployed

Saudi women.

Findings –Four key findings are identified. First, the considerable cultural and regulatory barriers of a

conservative society are resilient impediments to the success of Saudi employment policy. Second,

discrimination against women is endemic in the Saudi society; however, it is largely unrecognised within the

Saudi culture and often accepted by women themselves. Third, due to government regulations, cultural

constraints and the gendered educational system, the private sector contributes to sustaining labour

market segmentation through discriminatory practices. Finally, while a positive change is taking place in

Saudi Arabia regarding women’s employment, it is incremental and uneven.

Originality/value –This paper provides new insights into the institutional barriers related to the labour

force participation of Saudi women from the perspective of Saudi women themselves.

Keywords Women’s employment, Institutional barriers, Nitaqat, Women agency

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

While Saudi Arabian women represent almost half of the Saudi population (Central

Departmentof Statistics and Information (CDSI),2013), their workforce participation has been

historically low.According to the Global Gender Gap Index, Saudi Arabia was ranked 129th

out of 136 countriesin 2010, rising to127th in 2013in relation to differences betweenmales and

females for economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and

survival rates and political empowerment (World Economic Forum, 2013). In 2010, the

Saudi femalelabour participation rate wasjust 18 per cent and accounted for only9.2 per cent

of the total labour force (CDSI, 2013). Moreover, despite the fact that there were more female

undergraduates at university than males in the period 2012–2013 (Saudi Arabian Monetary

Agency (SAMA), 2013), women had a higher unemployment rate of 35 per cent compared to

12 per cent for men (International Monetary Fund (IMF), 2013). Clearly, Saudi is not utilising

almost half of its availablehuman resources which, as other Arab nationshave recognised, is

increasinglyunaffordable in a changing economiccontext (Ghorbani and Tung,2007). In 2011,

the Saudi Government launched a major labour market programme, known as Nitaqat, to

increase Saudi workforce participation, particularly that of women (Hertog, 2012). However,

this is in the context of a society in which there are firmly entrenched legal, economic and

cultural barriers to women’semployment.

The central purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which Nitaqat has been

effective in addressing institutional barriers inhibiting women’s employment. The paper

begins with a review of the literature on women’s employment in Saudi Arabia and

describes the political, economic, social and cultural factors driving and resisting change.

Second, the paper explores the underlying tension between structure and agency to analyse

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 37 No. 7, 2018

pp. 713-727

© Emerald PublishingLimited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-08-2017-0159

Received 10 August 2017

Revised 30 January 2018

Accepted 5 May 2018

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

www.emeraldinsight.com/2040-7149.htm

713

Women’s

employment in

Saudi Arabia