Women's education in Saudi Arabia: the way forward

Girls' access to education has increased and the gender gap reduced, while women's education has prompted a number of social developments.

However, lingering social norms, traditions, and the existing public education system have been constraints on women's realization of equal opportunities.

Reforming the educational system has become a priority and a great challenge for the Saudi government, according to a new report by Booz & Company.

Saudi Arabia has invested large amounts of money in public education, but it has not resulted in an equal increase in women's production output. It has led to a growth in the number of girls' schools, to the detriment of teaching quality.

"Moreover, educational reform has focused mainly on infrastructure changes, building schools, hiring teachers, and issuing a loaded curriculum,"

explained Mona AlMunajjed, Senior Advisor at Booz & Company, Ideation Centre.

In addition, the dichotomy between the type of skills taught to girls and those needed in the labor market has led to a high unemployment rate among Saudi women and a high demand for foreign labor.

The Saudi Government: decades of achievement

The Saudi government has prioritised providing free education to all citizens without any discrimination, making education compulsory for children between the ages of 6 and 15. "Over the past 40 years, the government has succeeded in building an educational infrastructure, leading to an increase in school and university enrolment and a reduction in illiteracy," stated AlMunajjed.

According to the latest UNESCO 2008 projections, Saudi Arabia is moving toward the goal of achieving universal primary education. Results indicate that net enrollment in primary education increased significantly to 93.0% in 2007.

The percentage of students who started grade one and reached grade five also increased, from 74.5% in 1990 to 98.2% in 2007. The emphasis by the government to providing universal education has led to an increase in the allocation for education and human resource development, from SR47bn in 2002, to SR122bn in 2009.

The government has also made considerable efforts to promote gender equality, and to ensure girls' equal access to basic education. In September 2000, it signed and ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) with some reservations.

National results also indicate there has been considerable progress in achieving gender equality among students; the number of female students at all school levels from 270,000 in 1974-75 increased to more than two million in 2004-05.

The government's commitment to girls' education is also demonstrated by the financial assistance granted to female students, and the incentives in the form of allowances offered to women throughout their years of study.

Currently, more than 38 educational institutes exist for women in the country alongside eight universities under the patronage of the Ministry of Education and women represent more than 58% of the total number of Saudi university students. The total number of female students enrolled seeking a bachelor's degree more than tripled between 1995-96 and 2005-06 to more than 340,000.

In addition, the number of vocational institutes for women reached 27 in 2004-05, with approximately 10 private colleges and universities for women spread throughout major cities in the Kingdom.

"Investing in female education is crucial to Saudi national development. Women's education is associated with vital measures of human resource development, such as reducing population growth and mortality rates, improving health and nutrition, and increasing literacy,"

stated AlMunajjed.

Constraints affecting women's education

The Saudi Universities Law, the Civil Service Law, and the Labour and Workers Law treat women the same as men with regard to specific considerations, as long as they are consistent with the Shari'a law.

There are many shortcomings in implementation: a mixture of local norms and traditions, social beliefs, and principles stand in the way, limiting women's opportunities to acquire or complete their education. Marriage and the low level of awareness of the social and cultural value of girls' education are also major challenges.

High dropout rates for girls - Recent UNESCO estimates reported the total number of out-of-school children in Saudi Arabia (boys and girls in primary education) at 3.22% of the total population.

"The problem is more pronounced among girls - as they reach puberty, they mostly drop out to get married. This phenomenon is confirmed once again after high school graduation," stated AlMunajjed.

Based on a close analysis of the annual number of female secondary school graduates between 1996-97 and 2004-05 and the number of new female students enrolled at university in every subsequent year, the percentage of girls who opted not to enter university after completing high school was on average above 25% during that period. Girls also drop out of university at an alarming rate - the dropout rate reached approximately 60% in the academic year 2005-06.

Early Marriage - Early marriage (before 16 years) is still a problem in pockets of Saudi society: it hinders girls' education due to marital and family responsibilities, and negatively influences their chances of employment and the economic status of the family. It also negatively affects their health as they are at greater risk of dying from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth.

"The lack of a minimum age for marriage is also an issue of concern. The Saudi Human Rights Commission (SHRC) launched a campaign to set a minimum age for marriage of 17 for women and 18 for men," explained AlMunajjed.

Challenges in the public education system

Saudi academics and professionals have raised concerns regarding the system of public education; and have questioned the educational performance of the Ministry during the past years, specifically regarding curriculum and programs, which don't meet students' needs or expectations.

A recent World Bank study which looked at education systems in the Middle East and North Africa found that Saudi Arabia scored low in pedagogy, structure of education, flow of students, and resource mobilization, and only medium in teaching capacity.

Shortcomings of the curriculum for girls

The public education system treats males and females differently due to the gender-based expectations of society. This has led to a limited range of fields for female students in schools, universities, and colleges. What's more, girls' curricula have not been seriously revised for more than 20 years and textbooks have not been updated.

"Without the introduction of new information that reflects developmental changes in society, the curriculum is not providing female students with the necessary skills to enhance their overall education and to find jobs," explained AlMunajjed.

Lack of adequate teacher training

Girls' education also suffers from a shortage of well-qualified teachers, despite the fact that the total number of female teachers in the public education system of education had increased to more than 200,000 in 2005-06.

Saudi academics have expressed their criticism to the Ministry of Education about the performance of teachers and the need to formulate new programs for teaching.

"Teachers lack frequent assessment and monitoring of the quality of their teaching performance and the education system is not providing sufficient incentives to teachers to upgrade their competencies; high academic qualifications are not part of the requirements and the concept of lifelong learning is missing," explained AlMunajjed.

Limited fields of specialization and scientific research

At the university level, the fields of education and training for women are limited, as the specializations do not correspond to the needs of the labor market. Science and technology, engineering and agriculture remain predominantly male territory.

This limits Saudi women's potential for progress in an age that is increasingly oriented toward scientific and technological advancement.

"Women's degrees are concentrated in education and teaching, human sciences, natural sciences, and Islamic studies. Of all female university graduates in 2007, 93% had degrees in education and teaching or human sciences," Al Munajjed commented.

Disconnect with the country's social and economic priorities

Thousands of Saudi women graduate each year from university but are not effectively utilized; a problem related to job availability and restrictions on work opportunities: The rate of Saudi women's participation in the labor force was 14% in 2007.

Due to these restrictions, considerable resources and talents - urgently needed in the labor market - are wasted. This has intensified the dependence on foreign labor, which reached 51% of the total working population in 2007.

"Women are a valuable resource who should be effectively utilized in the national economy by allowing them to join all fields of education and to work in all sectors. This is a vital and necessary step for national development and progress," stated AlMunajjed.

Government steps to improve the system of public education for women

It is clear that the Saudi government is serious about improving the quality of girls' education and has started to implement a new reform policy as well as instituting a series of initiatives.

In November 2006, a government meeting on 'Education: Current Situation and Means of Development' decided on a series of recommendations to overhaul and improve the system of education in Saudi Arabia including adopting a comprehensive education strategy; to review and update curricula and course material on an ongoing basis, and to improve the occupational level of teachers and faculty, as well as improving infrastructure and raising the standard of scholarly research.

The King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud Project for General Education Development, Tatwir, is a new educational measure, launched to introduce changes to the system of education to help students achieve knowledge and expertise. The project aims to train over 400,000 teachers in school management, educational supervision, curriculum development, computer science, training, and self-development skills; and to apply modern technology in the educational process.

The Princess Noura bint Abdul Rahman University for women is designed to become one of the largest centers of higher education for Saudi women, presenting them with new educational opportunities to enter the labor market, and will include an academic area of 15 diverse subject colleges. It will also include a housing area for staff and students with public facilities, with a capacity for 40,000 female students by 2010.

The preparatory year for university entrance is a pioneering, compulsory measure recently adopted by the Ministry of Education in all major universities of the Kingdom, to improve the level of knowledge amongst female students planning to specialize at university in the fields of medicine, business administration, computer sciences, and agriculture.

The one year, intensive course covers English, mathematics, computer sciences, and communication, in addition to courses in health awareness, civic education, and self-learning.

Al Ameen for school transportation is a new transportation project launched by the Ministry of Education to transport around 500,000 female students to their places of study.

Actions to improve women's education

It is clear that much more must be done at the governmental level to provide women equal opportunity in education and to ensure that they benefit from full education, the eradication of illiteracy, and vocational training.

"The government needs to formulate an educational reform strategy that includes major structural changes in the school system, and that will respond to the demands and priorities of a dynamic society," said AlMunajjed.

This policy must be geared to address the new social and economic changes affecting the country and the Arab region; as success of Saudi society depends on how it will invest in all its members. The development of female skills will lead to the development of human resource capital, thus minimizing their economic isolation in the Saudi market.

To date, the education system has been producing a large number of employment-seeking women graduates that the economy of the country needs.

"It is only by strengthening the general education system of girls at all levels, and improving women's access to high-quality education that women's participation in the labor force will increase. In so doing, Saudi Arabia will be able to face the global challenges of modern society," AlMunajjed explained.

High-level policy should be oriented toward creating a favourable socio-cultural environment for women. Educational change itself cannot reform a whole society but it is essential that education be recognized as a vital issue requiring the total commitment of society.

Cultural constraints placed on women should be cleared away gradually through education and public enlightenment with a view that accepts women as equal partners with men in society. Social and cultural patterns should be modified according to a more tolerant interpretation of the values of Saudi society, beginning at home and with the upbringing of the present generation of children, while initiating them into an open culture, based on tolerance and understanding.

The overall success of women's education requires changes in the conduct and actions of all major actors, including the government, policy officials and educational authorities.


Among the major decisions /actions required at high government level:

a. Enforce a minimum age for marriage of 18 years for both men and women;
b. Establish a national commission for women's social affairs to participate in high-level decision-making;
c. Implement a National Educational Strategy for girls and women that takes into consideration women's social and economic needs;
d. Revise, evaluate and reform women's curricula for all phases of education; it should emphasize foreign language, mathematics, sciences, health, computer sciences, information technology and programs physical education and national education, community services, environmental education;
e. Replace traditional methods of girl's teaching such as rote learning and memorization with good learning techniques and skills;
f. Recruit and evaluate qualitative teachers on the basis of competence and skills.