Are Saudi women professionals ready to enter the workforce in the kingdom?

Over the past 6 months, Saudi has taken big strides towards transforming, setting a strategy to be one of the strongest economies in the world by 2030. An integral part of the strategy, is to increase women’s participation in the workforce from 22% to 30%.

That was the inspiration for us launching our #hearitfromme (Esmaaha Menni) campaign, which kicks off with a piece of in-depth research examining both the challenges and opportunities to women hiring in Saudi Arabia as well as busting the myths that they are not ready to enter the workforce. The results were pretty eye-opening.

For me, the most important data point was that over half (52%) of Saudi women believe that the biggest myth that is hindering their career is that they don’t have the right skills for the job opportunities available.

That was interesting to hear, as when we looked at our LinkedIn insights, we noted that 63% of Saudi female members have indicated completing Bachelor’s Degrees, exceeding percentage when compared to other developed countries, such as the United States which comes at 57%. In addition, over 17% have completed a Master’s Degree, demonstrating the efforts Saudi women are taking in equipping themselves with the necessary knowledge and skill sets.

However, while they are ready to join the workforce, (37%) of Saudi women believe employers still need to do more to hire women in key roles and more than a third (38%) find that the hardest thing about getting a job in Saudi Arabia is finding the right opportunity to match their expectations.

It was clear to us that Saudi women wanted to be acknowledged and to be seen. As LinkedIn, it is key for us to connect everyone in the global workforce with economic opportunity. And so for women who are keen to further their careers, they need to ensure they are allowing themselves to be reachable by potential employers though using platforms such as LinkedIn, so they can showcase their skills and readiness, and the Kingdom can thrive by creating a more productive and creative workforce.

Finally, we can not ignore the great progress that has taken place in the kingdom over the past period. And it’s been visible as more than 60% of Saudi women and recruiters agree there is great progress and efforts in the Kingdom towards achieving Saudi Arabia’s vision.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter – to join the conversation, post on LinkedIn with the hashtag #hearitfromme or #??????_???.