B. Lack of Available Specialisations for Women

Although the Saudi government finances university education in full for men and women,^[1381] traditionally there have not been any separate programmes available for women’s education in a number of areas, particularly in the fields of engineering, political sciences, geology and petroleum and so on, and extremely few in others, such as the pharma­ceutical field (where the few female graduate pharmacists there are, for example, find their employment severely restricted, as is also the case for opticians).^[1382] Since the interviews for this research were conducted, a number of areas have been formally opened to women, at least at some universities,^[1383] and announcements have been made heralding change in an additional number of areas of study (see further below).^[1384]

Women’s education is restricted in the number and types of pro­grammes offered to female students in the vast majority of teacher colleges.

The restrictions on woman’s education in terms of access to various specialisations has undoubtedly caused (and continues to cause) higher unemployment among educated women than might otherwise have been the case both, because it causes an oversupply of graduates in the permitted areas, no possibility of employment in the areas where study is not permitted, and underemployment in areas where study is permitted but employment is either officially obstructed or informally frowned upon.^[1385] The lack of various specialisations generally, as well as the lack of their local availability,^[1386] are considered an indirect cause of women leaving school, failing to enter the tertiary sector, or curtailing their education at higher level.

The same conditions for career and vocational guidance, for access to studies and for the achievement of diplomas in educational establishments of all categories in rural as well as in urban areas; this equality shall be ensured in pre-school, general, technical, professional and higher technical education, as well as in all types of vocational training.^[1387]

It should be kept in mind that the education is essentially the transmis­sion of a message and the message does not determine whether its receiver is either men or women or both. But we see a large number of pretexts supplied for limiting the transmission of the message, such as unavailability of specialisations which do not meet the needs of the job market. This talk is without logic because the job market reflects different needs over the years; in fact, education creates the possibility of being able to satisfy employment opportunities as they arise and opens avenues for innovation to meet the nation’s needs. The following solutions and new plans are recommended:

1. Opening new fields and educational specialisations for women, such as in commercial and industrial fields. Access by both men and women to courses, and the distribution of places are to be agreed upon after careful consideration.

2. Limiting the ‘social’ and ‘theoretical’ specialisations which have no value on the job market and are simply increasing the number of unemployed women. The majority of such women (as well as those contemplating studying at tertiary level) need to be encouraged/ required to join technical specialisations or courses that will help them to increase their chances of gaining employment.

3. Supporting a greater variety of training courses. Women suffer from a scarcity of courses and the majority of training courses available are in cooking, design and photography, as these are the only fields perceived as suited to women.

4. Increasing vocational guidance. There is a need for increased availability of vocational guidance about which professions are needed by the society and encouraging students to take such courses to the benefit of society. Scarcity of direction (or negli­gence in terms of giving accurate advice) results in students entering the fields that they themselves are not attracted to but merely join as they are the courses available. Such students may form negative views of themselves, and although female students may enter these fields only to find work (and not a specialisations they require or personally prefer), their choice may not result in employment due to oversupply or lack of suitable local work opportunities.

5. Better academic coordination. There is a necessity for more and improved coordination among Saudi universities in regard to the programmes available for women in order to avoid the unnecessary course duplication. There is a need to create a development plan for the workforce based on the scientific fundamentals and according to the actual need for these specialisations.

C.