Saudi Arabia has announced that women in the country can now be able to join armed forces. This is a major step in widening the rights of women in the country.
Key Points
- Saudi Arabian women can now be employed as soldiers, corporals, lance corporals, sergeants, and staff sergeants.
- In order to be recruited in the armed forces, women have to fulfill the usual weight and height criteria and the applicants must have at least a high school education.
- In addition to this, applicants married to foreigners will not be accepted for recruitment.
- This is being done as a part of the plan of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of increasing women’s participation in the workforce and transforming the Arab into the world’s largest economy.
- This plan of allowing women into the military was first announced in the year 2019. Also, the Kingdom announced in the same year that it would allow women to leave the country without permission from a male relative.
- It was a big step toward ending a restrictive guardianship system of the country.
- Various steps have been taken till now to widen women’s rights in the country.
- Saudi Arabian women can be now seen working in roles that were previously limited to men like brewing cappuccinos in coffee houses, waiting tables in restaurants, etc.
- It is now common to see women in the country work as cashiers in malls.
In 2018, Saudi Arabia allowed women to drive and also ended its status as the last country on earth to prohibit women from driving.
In 2020, 100 women were appointed as public notaries by the Minister of Justice and in January a government official said that the country will start appointing female court judges soon.
