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From fighting harassment to boosting the employment rate, the New Year has already brought good news to the country’s
n 2018, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was asked in an interview with US news network CBS if women were equal to men. His answer was unambiguous, and rightly so: “Absolutely.”
He was asked this question because Saudi Arabia had long courted controversy regarding the public role of women in its society. Since the interview, he has put pen to paper. A series of major domestic reforms to strengthen women’s rights have been unveiled in the four years since, a key part of a wider programme to open up Saudi society. In 2018, the ban on Saudi women driving was lifted. This week, women were allowed to become taxi drivers.
Reforms appear to be working across a number of metrics. A crucial one is the employment rate of women, which rose from 66 per cent in 2016 to 75 per cent in 2020.
These measures are significant, but their implementation is even more so in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, the consequences of which the world will live with for years to come.
