Women Empowerment Policies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Other GCC Countries: A Systematic Review

Recent reports suggest that policymakers and practitioners of women’s empowerment the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is planning to give more opportunities for women by 2030, which includes the leadership positions in the public and private sectors.  The role of religion in hindering the women’s empowerment in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries is an extensively researched topic, KSA being the center of attention. However, the Islamic Shariah and its implications are highly influenced by the socio-cultural norms, which is evident from the huge differences in women’s empowerment within the GCC countries. By giving too much importance to the role of religion, many of the earlier studies failed discuss the role of historic, social and cultural factors in deterring the women’s empowerment in the GCC countries. Further, opportunity for the women to lead is also an important criterion when the extent of empowerment is evaluated. Therefore, the present study evaluated the role of governmental policies and factors other than religion in shaping the women’s empowerment in the KSA and other GCC countries. Further, we checked to what extend women adorn the leadership positions in the government sectors of KSA and other GCC countries. In this study, we conducted a systematic literature review of articles published after 2005 on the women’s empowerment to assess the current scenario. The analysis followed a qualitative route – thematic analysis method was used to represent the different areas of concern, including the socio-cultural, economic factors as well as issues related to women-in-leadership. We found that women in KSA and other GCC countries are still facing inequality and discrimination in the recruitment and appointment processes. Factors that may act as hurdles for women to attain leadership position in higher education include personal, cultural, and organizational barriers. However, recent reports indicate that the perceptions of people living in the GCC regions is also changing and policy makers are becoming increasingly aware about the need for women’s empowerment. We suggest gender-specific training programs and affirmation in recruitment for the females. Training programs can play an essential role in polishing the professional capabilities and can boost the value of females in the labor market. Consequently, women's empowerment in the GCC countries can be boosted and improved female representation in the leadership can be achieved.