Jobs provided for Saudi women in bakeries

The Ministry of Labor has undertaken several measures to encourage Saudi women to enter the workforce and has recently announced it will support women to take up jobs in local bakeries.
The ministry embarked upon this step after a local bakery highlighted its positive experience, whereby it hired six female workers and two year later the trend has caught on and there are currently 85 women hired in this sector.
Abdurrahman Al-Sayah, director of the Labor Office in Al-Ahsa, emphasized that the ministry is promoting the employment of women in various sectors, pointing out that the new labor laws contain a number of articles that empower and facilitate the entry of women into the workforce.
Al-Sayah participated in a meeting that was held at Al-Ahsa Chamber to discuss approaches that will help promote the feminization of jobs in the country.
“We are currently undertaking several studies, to formulate strategies that promote the nationalization of jobs in a number of sectors and institutions, with the aim of recruiting women in particular,” he explained.
Muhammad Al-Afaleq, head of the bakeries committee at the chamber stressed upon the importance of encouraging women to work.
“Al-Ahsa pioneered the successful experience of employing women in bakeries, with the cooperation and coordination of the Labor Office and the Human Resources Development Fund; we hope other regions will follow pursuit,” he added.
He explained that the high rate of female unemployment in the Kingdom and the limited sectors they were previously able to seek work in were limited, which thereby inhibited the feminization process of jobs.
Abdulaziz Al-Hammly, director of the Human Resources Development Fund in Al-Ahsa “Hadaf,” said all programs and initiatives of training that the fund employs seek to provide qualified, capable and productive national manpower for the country’s development.
“There are two new programs that the fund has created lately to support the employment of women. The first program caters for women working at factories and second fosters job stability,” he clarified.