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Saudi Women Week
APRIL 2010
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[RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & REGIONAL SAMPLE BREAKDOWN]
Research Methodology
Quantitative, Using CATI* method with questionnaire not exceeding 20 minutes.
401 Saudi women interviewed according to the specified criteria.
Aged 18-45
Living in Jeddah, Riyadh & Eastern
Province
Regional Breakdown of Sample (%)
*Computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) is a telephone surveying technique in which the interviewer follows a script provided by a software
application.
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[FAMILY AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC COMPOSITION]
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Single Married
without
children
Married with
Children
18-24 yrs 25-30 yrs 31-35 yrs 36-40 yrs 41-45 yrs Upto 2
Children
3-4 Children 5-6 Children More than 6
children
Upto 3 4-6 persons 7-10
persons
More than
10
Marital Status % Age % No of Children Per Family % Family Size %
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[Q: WHICH OF THESE PRODUCTS WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE ASSOCIATED MOST?]
Saudi women prefer to be associated more with “personal care” category than any other category.
Perfumes 22%
Cosmetics 15%
Facial Cream 7%
Deodorants 6%
Shampoo 8%
Hair Cream .5%
Cell Phones 9%
Gold/ Jewelry 6%
watches 4%
Juices 2%
Chocolates 2%
Milk 1%
Ice Cream 0%
Toothpaste 17%
Mouth Wash 1%
Mouth Freshener 0%
%
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Conformists Religionist Mainstreamers Mavericks
31%
of Saudi Women
16%
of Saudi Women
44%
of Saudi Women
9%
of Saudi Women
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• Below average media consumption especially internet.• Also, less involved in international travel, listening to music and socializing.• Conformists are more into cooking food, weight conscious.
21
64 63
88
24
79
43
60
77
100
20
33
92
47
69 67
93
76
32
65 68
90
24
82
55
68
79
99
3944
94
59
74
69
83
68
Usin
g t
he
In
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ad
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ew
sp
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Re
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aga
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sp
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s
En
tert
ain
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rie
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om
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me
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usic
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tere
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nsu
min
g lig
ht
or
low
fa
t
Media Consumption [%] Lifestyles & Leisure Activities [%] Interests [%]
Conformists Average
2009©Brackets All Rights Reserved
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•They use internet more but less into electronic and print media.
•They go for international trips.
•Less concerned about their weight & beauty
4955
62
85
18
77
52 55
77
97
40
53
91
55
64
7470
49
32
65 68
90
24
82
55
68
79
99
3944
94
59
7469
83
68
Usin
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In
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ew
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for
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Ta
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Ga
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Stu
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Co
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fa
t
Media Consumption [%] Lifestyles & Leisure Activities [%] Interests [%]
Conservatives Average
2009©Brackets All Rights Reserved
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•They are heavy media consumers.•They listen to music, go for parties and love to shop•They track new fashions and trends and also gather beauty tips.
32
72 73
96
25
86
64
77 80
99
47 48
97
69
81
67
86
71
32
65 68
90
24
82
55
68
79
99
3944
94
59
7469
83
68
Usin
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In
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Pa
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Sp
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Lis
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Tra
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or
low
fa
t
Media Consumption [%] Lifestyles & Leisure Activities [%] Interests [%]
Mainstreamers Average
2009©Brackets All Rights Reserved
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• Below average media consumption especially internet.• Also, less involved in international travel, listening to music and socializing.• Conformists are more into cooking food, weight conscious.
40
51
77 77
34
80
63
7477
94
5449
89
63
71
83
54
69
32
6568
90
24
82
55
68
79
99
3944
94
59
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83
68
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In
tern
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low
fa
t
Media Consumption [%] Lifestyles & Leisure Activities [%] Interests [%]
Mavericks Average
2009©Brackets All Rights Reserved
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•Women make up 58% of
Saudi Arabia’s student
population but only 16% of
the workforce, according to
Unesco. Photograph:
Hassan Ammar/AFP
•The world's largest women-
only university is being built
in Saudi Arabia; with a
campus that will cover 8m
square meters and
accommodate 40,000
students.
•Due to open in 2010, the
Princess Noura bint
Abdulrahman University, on
the outskirts of Riyadh, will
offer courses in subjects that
Saudi women find difficult to
study at universities where
gender segregation is
enforced.
•This year Human Rights
Watch accused the Saudi
government of stopping
women from enjoying their
basic rights because they
must often obtain permission
from a guardian - a
father, husband or son - to
work, travel, study, marry or
even access healthcare.
www.afp.com Agence France-Presse - Since 1835
•It will have a
library, conference
centers, 15 academic
faculties, laboratories and a
700-bed hospital. There will
be facilities for research into
nanotechnology, bio-
sciences and information
technology.
At the foundation-laying
ceremony last week, which
was attended by King
Abdullah, the finance
minister, Ibrahim Al-
Assaf, told reporters the site
would include housing for
university staff, mosques, a
school, a
• kindergarten and theme
parks.
Assaf described the project
as a "milestone" in the
kingdom's history. The
higher education
minister, Khaled al-
Anqari, added: "The king's
presence shows his
generous support for
women's empowerment and
his keen desire to promote
higher education."
Saudi businesswomen education
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•In a 50-page
report, Perpetual Minors:
Human Rights Abuses
Stemming from Male
Guardianship and Sex
Segregation in Saudi
Arabia, researchers drew on
more than 100 interviews
with Saudi women to
document the effects of
discriminatory policies. The
findings showed that the
need fort women-only
spaces was a disincentive to
hiring female employees and
that female students were
often relegated to unequal
facilities.
•One researcher, Farida
Deif, told the Guardian the
university would provide
better education and
employment opportunities.
•"This university could be a
very good thing if it had
colleges offering instruction
in engineering, media or law.
•There are already colleges
with nursing and teaching
disciplines. These areas are
saturated and perpetuate
specific gender roles.
www.guardian.co.uk The Guardian - Since 1821
•"In terms of female
education, the Saudi
government has made great
progress. Every statistic
we've seen shows more
enrolment in secondary and
university education.‖
•The country still has the
lowest female employment
level in the world. Unesco
figures show that women
make up 58% of the total
Saudi student
population, but only 16% of
the workforce.
Segregation and the state
policy of male guardianship
mean women can only work
in all-female
environments, normally
schools and hospitals.
Women can lose their jobs if
a male guardian informs the
employer he wishes her to
leave.
Saudi businesswomen education
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•It is unclear whether the
university will have halls of
residence. Women do not
normally leave home before
marriage and would not
usually be permitted to move
away in order to study.
Those women who do live
on campus encounter
difficulties and constraints.
•In the course of her
research, Deif spoke to
medical students in
Dammam, where they
stayed in dormitories. "They
were severely restricted in
terms of mobility and activity.
They didn't have the power
to leave the dormitory. It was
a very closed environment.―
•No information is available
on how students will travel to
the university. Women are
barred from driving and
public transport is not an
option because of
segregation. Women rely on
a male guardian or privately
hired driver.
www.guardian.co.uk The Guardian - Since 1821
Government officials
stressed the university's
green credentials. Around
40,000 square meters of
solar paneling will provide
16% of the campus's heating
and 18% of the power
required for air-conditioning
Saudi businesswomen education
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•Saudi Arabia this month
marked the opening of its
first restaurant entirely
owned and managed by
women, local media
reported.
•But the establishment of
this start-up business in the
kingdom's Eastern Province
did not come without
complications. The
designers of the project had
to make sure that there
would be no contact
whatsoever between the
female staff working in the
kitchen and the male
customers who visit.
•A "separation wall" will
isolate the food pickup area
from the kitchen to prevent
contact between men and
the 10 or so women cooking
in the kitchen.
•Saudi Arabia embraces one
of the strictest
interpretations of Sunni
Islam. Separation between
men and women in many
public spaces is strictly
enforced.
www.latimes.com Los Angeles Times - Since 1881
In restaurants, for
instance, only men and
women related by blood or
marriage are allowed to sit
at the same table. As in
much of the Middle
East, eateries and cafes
usually have two separate
sections: one for families
and the other for single men.
Saudi businesswomen ownership
The female owner and
manager of the new
Nourriyat Center for Cooking
was hailed by the local press
for "bravely" announcing her
real name to the public.
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•According to the Saudi daily
Al Yaum, it is the first time
that a business appears
under the real name of its
female owner. The
newspaper said that women
traditionally used fake
names when they opened
businesses in the kingdom
to avoid social
stigmatization.
•oura Moukaytib, owner of
the restaurant, told the
newspaper that she wanted
to challenge "those with
obstinate minds" who look
down on active women.
•In its first phase, the new
restaurant will offer only
"Eastern and Western"
takeaway fast food delivered
to customers through a
cashier.
www.alyaum.com Alyaum Newspaper
•Delivery of the orders will
be conducted through a
window specially designed
to prevent men and women
from "revealing themselves
to one another.―
•Saudi Arabia has been
widely criticized for failing to
provide women with
employment opportunities.
Some human rights
organizations and activists
qualify the discrimination
against women in the
country as "gender
apartheid."
Saudi businesswomen ownership
According to local
figures, women in Saudia
Arabia make up 70% of
students enrolled in
universities but just 5% of
the kingdom's workforce.
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Saudi businesswomen to 20
•As a human resources
professional, she also
mentions that even though
the kingdom is making huge
strides in incorporating
women in the workplace, it
can do more ... hope the
administration is listening to
more women like Huda!
•Beyond the list, many other
professional women in Saudi
are getting a helping hand
from government
organizations.
•Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz
has created a special fund to
support women looking to
develop their skills and
businesses. Through
completion of a technical
workshop showing the
importance of marketing,
accounting, and
management, these women
are armed with a new set of
skills to help them through
their endeavors.
•Not only are these women
preserving tradition and
representing women in a
male dominated field, they
are doing it with a grace all
women can learn
from. Continue breaking
barriers ladies!
•A full list of Arab News top
20 Saudi businesswomen
can be found here. What do
you think of the top 20?
Were any of your role
models missing from the
list?
•We are also
introduced to Huda
Ghoson, Saudi
Aramco’s director of
Human Resources
Policy and Planning
Division.
•Humbly claiming that all her success is because of the
direction from her parents, Huda says, ―My mother was very
influential in my decision to work for Saudi Aramco,‖ she
says. ―In fact, I do not think I would have been where I am
today if it was not for my mother.‖
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Saudi businesswomen
•Saudi Arabian women have
traditionally been barred
from entering the workplace;
only recently have they had
the opportunity to choose
professions, such as
nursing, teaching, and
medicine. Because Saudi
Arabian women historically
have been much more
repressed than women in
neighboring Middle Eastern
countries, the rise of
women-owned businesses
and female entrepreneurs--
women currently run about
16,390 businesses--
represents a significant
advancement for Arab
women.
•Encouraged by better
education, a changing
economy, and more
opportunity, Saudi women
are entering
new, unorthodox business
and industrial
professions, despite
daunting obstacles
stemming from the traditions
of Islamic culture.
in this mall, located in Riyadh, women are not only the
customers, but also the owners, managers, and clerks of all
the stores, setting a precedent for the conservative Islamic
nation.
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Saudi businesswomen
•RIYADH, Saudi Arabia In
Saudi Arabia's newest
hotel, flickering candles in
every corner enhance the
serenity. And as you walk
down royal-red halls, you'll
notice something else: not a
man in sight.
•It's women-owned, women-
managed, and women-run –
from our IT engineer to our
electrical engineer," boasts
Lorraine Coutinho, executive
director of the Luthan Hotel
& Spa. To some, Saudi
Arabia's first women-only
hotel is a sign of progress, a
place where women can
conduct business without
interference in a male-
dominated society.
•Until January, women could
not check into any hotel
alone unless accompanied
by a male family member or
they had written permission
from a male "guardian.
•" Now, the only requirement
is that the hotel register the
names of female guests with
the police .But others say
the new hotel simply
reinforces gender
segregation in a nation that
still doesn't let women drive.
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Fahda bint Saud
•One of the more startling works is "Three
Women" by Fahda Bint Saud (pictured next).
•In it she depicts what appears to be a
reluctance on the part of Saudi women to
recognize the reality of their restricted lives.
•Khreis says it's a piece that might not have
been allowed if it weren't for the fact that
Fahda Bint Saud is in fact a daughter of
Saud bin Abdul Aziz, king of Saudi Arabia
from 1953 to 1964.
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Saudi Women Workshop
•While in Saudi it may not
seem that the economics
are as important, in fact
they are for women and
families in any number of
situations: where the
woman has the potential
for a satisfying high
earning career; where the
patriarch is unable to work
temporarily or permanently
due to illness; where a
woman is widowed or
divorced and lacks family
support, or the family is
struggling financially;
where the number of
children outstrips the
father's earning capacity;
where a woman is
"unmarriageable".
•in Saudi Arabia only
about 5% of women
work. This includes all
women, those with and
without higher
education. The reasons
for this low number are
historical, cultural, soci
etal, and religious, all
as understood within
the Saudi context
•However, as the Chinese saying "Women hold up half the
sky" captures well, women constitute approximately half the
population and their contribution helps hold up half the
potential of a country. Countries with low rates of women in
the workforce tend also to have lower rates of
achievement, usually economically but also
socially, educationally, and in terms of human rights.
•There are other initiatives
to increase the number of
women in the
workforce, including by
Ministerial decree, as with
the one to replace male
salesclerks, usually
foreigners on contract and
earning lower wages, with
Saudi women, as
described in the 2 posts on
the lingerie's buying
boycott, here and here .
Some careers are more
open to women than
others, like medicine.
Some jobs are more open
to women than others.
While the former tend to be
male-dominated
professions, the latter tend
to be female-dominated
unremunerated work, like
housework (maid), and
child care (nanny).
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Saudi Women Workshop
•One initiative that has
been successful
elsewhere, including
Palestine (where
embroidery became part of
the intifada), and South
Asia through the Grameen
Bank, to mention but 2, is
to turn women's domestic
arts of
weaving, knitting, sewing,
embroidery, quilting, and
other textile creations into
remunerated work as
artisans or copy artists.
•One initiative in Saudi
Arabia, which was
developed to give a skill
and employment to deaf
women, is the Mansoojat
Foundation
Workshop, teaching and
selling embroidered items
based on traditional tribal
dress in Saudi Arabia. The
following article by
Assia Kashoggi, which I
have interspersed with her
pictures from the
Mansoojat Foundation
Workshop, explains the
purpose, activities, and
structure of the workshop.
http://www.chezchiara.com/2010/02/saudi-womens-work-domestic-artists-to.html
•This is a traditional sphere
for women's work, even in
developed countries where
it is still mainly women who
work the sewing machines
in factory settings, or do
the handcrafted specialty
items. Canada's poorer
Maritime regions
developed the highly
successful boutique quilted
fashions Suttles and
Seawinds; the First
Nations Peoples, men and
women, have established
craft cooperatives which
preserved their
heritage, developed their
arts, and was one of the
first steps towards band
economic self-
sufficiency, instead of total
reliance on social
assistance which has had
deleterious effects.
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Saudi Women Attitude
•Flocks of the most stylish
and sexiest women sit
around the tables smoking
(sheesha) wildly with an
empty mysterious look in
their eyes saying: you can’t
get me, bastard; you just
get to see me and that’s
enough for the likes of you!
Not a single woman of
those has that content and
satisfied smile on her face.
Why is that? Don’t be very
pessimistic and realistic
and start blaming men for
that; it’s just that her royal
highness, who happens to
be the daughter of an
ordinary employee, has not
gotten the expensive
house she wanted for her
birthday.
•A glance at some
public places in Jeddah
is a delight for the eye
indeed. At
malls, crowds of
women hurl and rush
searching for a find; a
Fendi bag on sale or a
make-up set with an
offer.
•We are just so pretty and trendy that you can find us any
time of the week or day at any up-town mall trying to fetch
that small diamond that will make the difference!
At restaurants and cafes, the picture becomes more
serious, however.
•In beauty salons, the fight
for beauty seems to be
fatal. Women there spend
at least three hours to get
the Nancy Ajram
hairstyle, the Haifa Wahbi
eye make-up, or the Elissa
lips.
•Unluckily, the result is not
always as expected. Yet
the fight continues at the
cashier in order not to
allow the salon to take the
money it deserves. When
the result of the three-hour
session is satisfactory
another type of fight is
inflamed; it’s show time! In
fact, the show-off
starts, and the jealousy
among rivals is heated.
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Saudi Women Attitude
•All of them haven’t been
properly educated even
though some of them have
university degrees. Their
lives revolve around
stuff, not principles and
values. Being superficial
and materialistic is our
greatest enemy; our
greatest oppression.
•When a woman is well-
educated and is well-aware
of her mission in life, no
man, judge, or religious
police can humiliate her or
deprive her of rights.
•It surprises me how some
Saudi women have taken
the wrong direction in their
fight for their rights. We
fight our
fathers, brothers, and
husbands, but few of
•At the end of the
day, the poor
oppressed Saudi
woman returns home to
shout at her kids and
complain about her
husband who doesn’t
really care about her.
―Can you imagine that
idiot! He bought me a
Gucci bag for the
second time!‖
•Those women are not always rich or married to wealthy
men, yet they share a few alarming features. They are all
spoiled, irresponsible, and spiritually, emotionally, and
mentally empty.
us fight our triviality and
ignorance. If Saudi women
don’t start fighting for
having a personality; for
gaining the joy of fulfilling a
goal, they will always be
oppressed and obsessed
with their things and toys.
There is nothing Human
Rights can do for women
who choose to be forever
consumers of
goods, gifts, and pity.
•Yet a question that very
few people ask is whether
or not this kind of
oppression is from Islam.
Is Islam for spoiling women
and making them stuff-
centered?
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•Female-only banks have
existed in Saudi Arabia for
decades, and Time
describes the women's
branches of the Dubai
Islamic Bank as feeling
"more like spas than
financial institutions.
•" The staff and clientele at
these branches are all (you
guessed it) female, and the
case for separation has to
do with both the wealth held
by Saudi women and the
conservative culture.
•The Time article scatters
some very interesting facts
about women in this part of
the world: A 2007 Barclays
Wealth survey found that
Saudi women are the most
financially savvy in the world
in terms of
investing, retirement, and
estate planning; The Middle
East Economic Digest
estimates that Gulf women
control around $246
billion, projected to hit $385
billion by 2011; Women own
about a third of brokerage
accounts and 40 percent of
family-run firms in Saudi
Arabia.
Saudi women wealth
www.ft.com - Since 1888
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JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia - For years, the only thing sold
openly in Saudi stores selling women's cloaks were of
the all-black, drab covering variety. Now, streaks of
vibrant color, bands of glittering crystal — even sheaths
of sexy leopard skin prints — are showing up on the
racks.
[SAUDI WOMEN FASHION]
Read more:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26973542/#ixzz0mfwgUdt5
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[SAUDI WOMEN FASHION]•A new style or old-fashioned?
•Things were not always that strict.
Sarah Kennedy, an American who
has lived in Saudi Arabia for almost
30 years, said that in 1979 when
she first arrived in the kingdom
foreign women were not obliged to
wear abayas. But as the kingdom
became more conservative in the
1980s, foreign women began
wearing abayas too, but ones that
looked like capes and fell just to mid
thigh.
•"But then, suddenly ... you couldn't
find the ones you normally wanted,"
said Kennedy. "So you bought them
anyway."
No one really knows why or how it
became OK to sell the new stylish
abayas. Major stores in big cities
carry them openly and there have
not been reports in the local media
of religious police confiscating them.
But like everything else in the
kingdom, the change was subtle
and incremental. Glitter started
adorning wrists or was sprinkled on
the edges of the veil that must be
worn on the head. Then color began
creeping on the black fabric and the
loose shapeless cloaks became
more fitted. The cumbersome
panels that hooked to the shoulders
to ensure that nothing peeked from
underneath the abaya as a woman
walked slowly disappeared.
Today, the new abayas are without
the panels and close straight down
like a long coat.The new styles
cropped up first in the more open
western seaside city of Jiddah and
in the Eastern Province."We in
Jiddah are fashion conscious," said
abaya designer Ghada al-Sairafi. "I
try to come up with a new model
every week because of the
demand."
Hanan al-Madani, another Jiddah
designer, said abayas are "no longer
just abayas.‖
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[SAUDI WOMEN FASHION]
"Today, they reflect a woman's taste
and personality," said al-
Madani, whose custom-made
abayas sell between $402 and
$2,145.
Jeddah boasts the most daring
abayas. In one store, there were
cloaks with red lace hanging down
from the black sleeves, some with
crystal sprinkled around the collar
and waist and a few double-layered
ones with bold reds, greens and
yellows underneath a sheer black
chiffon top.
The best-seller among these was
one with a leopard skin pattern
underneath the top cover.
But not everyone in fashionable
Jeddah likes the new abayas.
Tahani al-Jihani, 42, is one.
She bustled into one Jeddah store
to choose abayas for her daughter
and her sister and later announced:
"I don't like the new styles but my
sister and my daughter love them.
"I feel they attract too much
attention," said al-Jihani as she
watched her daughter try on one
with balloon arms. Despite Jeddah's
relatively liberal atmosphere, many
Saudi women avoid wearing the
daring abayas in public places such
as malls and restaurants.
Hala Ahmed, a 21-year-old interior
design student, said she wears the
new styles to weddings and to
college, which are segregated.
"They're more like dresses, so I
wear them to places where no men
will see me in them."
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Pioneer Saudi Women
Although proud of her
career, Capt. Hanadi Zakaria
al-Hindi said she expects an
angry reaction when she
arrives back in Saudi Arabia
on Saturday. Conservatives
believe women should be
confined to home or jobs
that do not entail mixing with
men, such as in education
and philanthropy.
"I am doing a respectable
job," al-Hindi said. "I know I
will be facing many angry
people, but it is my will, and
the will of my father, that I
become a pilot.―
Al-Hindi, 27, graduated last
week from the Amman-
based Mideast Aviation
Academy and plans to join
the private aviation firm
owned by billionaire Saudi
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
A statement carried by the
Saudi media in
November, Alwaleed said al-
Hindi had been hired by his
firm, the Kingdom Holding
Co. He described the
decision as a "historic move
for Saudi ladies.―
"The hiring of a female
Saudi pilot is the first of its
kind," the statement said.
"The move transcends the
traditional role of Saudi
women, previously confined
to working in the
health, education and
philanthropic sectors."
Saudi women cannot drive, but apparently they can fly.
A Saudi woman who recently obtained her pilot's license in
Jordan said Thursday she has been hired by a private
aviation company to fly commercial planes.
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[Examples]
Event LogoShow Logos
Stationery
CD Jacket & CD Face
Folder Event Passes
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[Examples]
Registration Forms ID Badges
Event Bag
Certificates
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