Empowering woman through legal reforms-evidence from Saudi Arabian context

Abstract

Purpose

This current paper aims to review the literature for two main reasons. First, to outline the propositions of women empowerment in manifesto of “Vision 2030”and how these implementations have added to woman’s success in different facets of the economy. Second, to review the current reforms made to empower woman under Saudi law published in 08/2019 when the Council of Ministers presented numerous revisions to civil and labour laws that increase women’s rights and discourse concerns of travel, employment and finance.

Design/methodology/approach

The investigation is found on both an analysis of the secondary literature including records and information pertaining to the current economic alterations and improvements influencing women.

Findings

Despite the various limitations in Saudi Arabia, many Saudi women are joining the workforce. Nowadays, Saudi female are selecting new professions which were previously unexplored. Study revealed that Saudi females in different organizational framework are equally competent as male in higher ranks, if not slightly higher (Al-Shamrani, 2015). Within this context, Saudi Arabia was labelled as one of the economies with the most progress towards gender equality since 2017 in the World Bank’s Women, Business and The Law 2020 report; the report attributed this advancement to the increases in freedom of movement and economic opportunities for women as a result of the aforementioned reforms.

Originality/value

This paper has reflected on the success of measures by government to empower woman in the thirst to fulfill “Vision 2030” in Saudi Arabian context.

Citation

Rizvi, L.J. and Hussain, Z. (2022), "Empowering woman through legal reforms-evidence from Saudi Arabian context", International Journal of Law and Management, Vol. 64 No. 2, pp. 137-149. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLMA-03-2021-0068