Saudi Army officers pass F-15 fighter jets, GBU bombs and missiles displayed during a ceremony on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the creation of King Faisal Air Academy at King Salman Air Force Base in Riyadh on January 25, 2017.
Photographer: Fayez Nureldine / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Fayez Nureldine / AFP / Getty Images
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Saudi Arabian women can now take up arms and join the army, the last profession in the kingdom to open Until female recruits.
Saudi women can be employed as soldiers, corporals, corporals, sergeants and staff sergeants, according to Saudi-based Arab News.
Jobs have gradually opened up to Saudi women, whose increased participation in the workforce is part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plans to transform the world’s largest economy. It is now common to see Saudi women working as cashiers in shopping malls and taking on roles that were previously limited to men, such as waiting tables in restaurants and making cappuccinos in cafes.
Two Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 military aircraft perform an air show at the Saudi Air Show at Al Thumamah Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday, March 12, 2019.
The expansion of labor roles and rights has occurred even when women activists have been the object of repression against dissent.
Saudi Arabia frees women’s rights activist amid US scrutiny
The plan to allow women to join the army was first announced in 2019, the same year the kingdom said it would allow women to leave the country without the permission of a male relative, an important step towards at the end of a restrictive guardianship system that has been heavily criticized nationally and internationally.
This came after Saudi Arabia in 2018 allowed women to drive and ended its status as the last country on earth by banning women from driving, a step that Bloomberg Economics loved in that moment that could add up to $ 90 billion to economic production. 2030.
Saudi women sell products from a stall at Al Yasmin Mall in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday, August 6, 2017.
Tasneem Alsultan / Bloomberg
Apart from the usual criteria of weight and height, women applicants in the army need to have had at least secondary education. Applicants married to foreigners will not be accepted, according to Arab News.
Last year, the justice minister appointed 100 women as notaries public, and in January a government official said Saudi Arabia would begin appointing judicial judges “soon.”
Until the recent change, women had limited options when looking for work. For the most part, they worked as teachers or for a government entity. In 2011, a law was passed that required all lingerie and cosmetics companies to have only workers, following an intense campaign led by women.