Recent reports suggest that the minister of commerce has abolished a precondition requiring all women wishing to do business in the country to have a male guardian to represent them with the authorities. The minister was also reported to have scrapped another condition that women must have a financial guarantor who would be accountable in case the women failed to fulfill their financial obligations.
The move has been greeted as a major development toward empowering Saudi women and encouraging them to play a more active role in the country’s economy. It should also help release some estimated SR90 billion in money kept by Saudi women in local banks, a step that could give a big boost business activity.
The implications of the decision are not only confined to women playing a more prominent role in the national economy but also extend further to signal the freeing of women. Many women lived in virtual bondage under the control of male guardians who often abused the authority given to them in order to force harsh terms on women that amounted to extortion. The practice has almost led to the disappearance of such virtues as integrity and honesty from our lives and was the main reason behind women’s reluctance to engage in trade and business. Half of society was thus kept on the sidelines and denied opportunities to make meaningful contributions to building the nation at the same time as billions of riyals were locked in banks, denying the economy much needed wealth.
The move should allow women to be able to work in sectors that have been off limits to them. They have traditionally been confined to teaching, overseeing tailoring businesses and beauty salons. Competition in so small a sector have mushroomed and it has become so intense that many have been forced out of business.
The move to abolish the positions of guardian and guarantor was followed by another encouraging step. The Ministry of Commerce has licensed a number of women to engage in such activities as contracting, services and consultancy. More licenses are on the cards whereby women will work in translation, law and engineering. What the ministry did was to revive an old tradition by which women in villages and small towns worked in a number of jobs including farming, raising animals and selling goods in local markets. Some of them were traveling saleswomen who made day trips knocking on doors. Let us hope the revival of these traditions will help accelerate the country’s development and progress.
