Although the United Nations and the government have exerted painstak­ing efforts to develop women’s rights, there has been and continues to be broad discrimination against the women in all social, economic and cultural aspects of life.

This constitutes a violation of their rights. Although the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a signatory to CEDAW, there remain problems relating to the implementation of some of its provisions.

Undoubtedly, Saudi Arabia has witnessed remarkable improvements in relation to women’s rights and clearly also in regards to women’s status because the government took steps in that field. For example, it encour­aged the promotion of women to leadership positions, such as university manager^[1372] and higher appointments in the Ministry of Education.^[1373] In addition, Saudi women have the opportunity to represent the Kingdom at the international level as well as participate in works of a number of international organisations.^[1374] Some new specialisations are also now offered to women in some universities. We hope that these steps continue, and are translated into facts ‘on the ground’ by the competent authorities, rather than being stymied. The latter can occur in situations where systems and legislation are in place to ensure women’s rights but the relevant provisions are either not implemented (perhaps due to a lack of relevant regulations or required policies), or they are implemented, but are wrongly interpreted. With respect to the educational policy in Saudi Arabia, there is clear discrimination against women. Therefore, women’s rights must be a focus in educational policy because the policy contains general provisions having broad application and impact on the multiple levels of education in the Kingdom. All provisions and educational regulations must be reviewed, especially those which decrease or restrict the eligibility of the women or their legal character in a form which contradicts Shari’ah and violates international laws.^[1375]

The interviews with Saudi women in different fields revealed that the main obstacles to women’s education were legal and administrative. In addition, the data analysis showed that there is great difference between the theory and the practice of Saudi law.

This study shows that there is a lacuna between women’s rights in general and women’s educational rights in particular. The results include the following matters that cause women to be unable to pursue their learning.