JEDDAH, 12 February 2006 — In a significant move to promote technical education among young Saudi women, authorities have decided to appoint two women assistant deputies at the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVOT).
Ali Al-Ghafees, governor of GOTEVOT, confirmed the decision yesterday and said the deputies would supervise higher technical institutes and vocational training centers for young women to be established in various parts of the country.
“The first assistant deputy will be for training and development affairs while the second will take charge of joint training program involving public and private departments and agencies,” Al-Ghafees told Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic daily.
GOTEVOT had nominated a number of women having leadership qualities to take up the new posts, he said, adding that their appointment would take place next month.
Al-Ghafees said the organization was also looking for capable women to manage the new technical institutes for young women.
The new move comes as part of the government’s efforts to empower women and create more jobs for them in both public and private sectors.
The government has allocated SR9 billion for opening new technical colleges and training institutes and expanding existing institutions in various parts of the country.
The setting up new technical institutes and training centers also comes ahead of a Labor Ministry campaign aimed at employing 200,000 women. Some of the jobs that have been identified for Saudi women are receptionists, tailors, wedding-hall employees, nutritionists, governesses, marketers, photographers, beauticians, caterers and hospitality and amusement park employees.
With the Council of Ministers decision to open women’s sections in all government ministries and departments, and employing Saudi women in shops selling women’s wares more job opportunities would be available for them.
Unemployment among women, according to official statistics, is put at 21 percent.
According to Al-Ghafees, 17 higher technical institutes will be established for young women within the next three to five years. Crown Prince Sultan laid the cornerstone of the first such institute in Madinah last October.
A study presented at the recently held manpower development forum in Riyadh said 60 percent of Saudi women preferred to work from home. But 67 percent of company managers have rejected that idea.
Saleh ibn Sulaiman Al-Rasheed, professor of management at King Faisal University who conducted the study, dismissed suggestions that working from home would deny women important jobs.
He emphasized the need for enacting laws that would allow women to work from their homes. “Working from home has made tremendous success in many advanced countries,” he pointed out.
The number of such workers in Europe and the United States has reached 15 percent of the total workforce. This growth is attributed to workers who have home offices and use computers and the Internet to telecommute and interact with colleagues and supervisors.
