Abdo Khal

Okaz newspaper

Any society needs its intellectual wealth in order to achieve development and progress. Human resources should be trained to undertake their respective roles in the process of nation building.



No society will be able to achieve real development in the absence of a portion of its workforce. For a long time, Saudi women were only employed in the sectors of health and education and were excluded from other sectors due to social pretexts. The falsehood of these pretexts will be proven sooner than later.



Recently, two noteworthy news items on women were published. The first one was on the 30 women who were appointed as full-fledged members of the 150-member Shoura Council. The new members will enjoy all rights of membership and carry out their duties diligently.



Women entered the council only after a number of prominent Islamic scholars, many of whom members of the Supreme Council of Scholars, issued a fatwa saying membership of women in the Shoura Council is not against the Shariah.



The second news item was about Makkah Emir Prince Khaled Al-Faisal planning to sign a number of agreements between the Social Welfare Fund and several private organizations to employ young Saudi women from poor and needy families.



These two news items are enough proof that the Kingdom is determined to employ Saudi women in leading positions and in jobs that require professional training and manual labor.



It is high time to break the fetters impeding the work of women under false social pretexts and open wide the doors for them to enter all productive sectors. Saudi women are qualified to do any job and we can no longer ignore them as doing so would be to waste vital talent and energy.



I hope that after women have been appointed members of the Shoura Council, no one will object to their going out to work to sustain their families in dignity and honor.