Workplace Gender Discrimination in Saudi Arabia: Effective Strategies for Improvement

Arizona State University

WST 501 - Foundations of Feminist Thought

September 09, 2023

Workplace Gender Discrimination in Saudi Arabia: Effective Strategies for Improvement

Introduction

Workplace gender discrimination is a serious issue across the globe today. Countries with

stringent societal and cultural norms, such as Saudi Arabia, face this problem frequently. Al-

Nasrallah (2023) says even though all these modifications might take place, existing gender

disparities continue to influence how many chances one has to make available themselves,

salaries applicable for the particular job field, and treatment not arranged. Due to belonging to

different cultural and historical paradigms, the case poses a challenge for these women going

further in their careers; it is also essential to highlight its essence while also illuminating what

should not be highlighted. Previous measures such as legal changes and educational projects

were inadequate because of undercoerced enforcement practices, with middle-class norms

holding roots in the application of coercive force (Al-Nasrallah, 2023). Countermovement targets

culture for transformation, improvement in the law enforcement system, and empowering

organizations. Galvanizing government, the private sector of industries and education facilities,

as well as the media, targets involving women’s advocates along with leaders in business settings

from religious groups beside global organizations. Tools include policy advocacy and

collaboration with corporations to create a respectful environment. In practice, Galloway (2020)

indicates that it requires a governmental task force to establish public-private forums as well as

educational partnerships engaging the media and being monitored thoroughly. As a response to

past constraints, this approach aims, in fact, to fight gender inequality comprehensively,

presupposing social transformation, and Vision 2030 targets implementation contributions that

allow Saudi Arabia to be considered one of the global leaders advocating for gender equality.

Definition of the Problem and Reasons for the Issue

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has embarked on an ambitious journey of social and

economic reform, yet an enduring challenge persists: gender discrimination in the workplace.

According to Bhatti (2023), this long-standing problem is reflected in the gaps between male and

female workers’ opportunities, pay rates, and treatment. In order to consider the issue of gender

discrimination holistically, it is vital to study in detail its particular essence and importance, as

well as the reasons that provide sustenance for this phenomenon within Saudi Arabia.

The gender discrimination that is a widespread problem in Saudi Arabian work spaces

has multi-faceted aspects related to cultural, social, and historical paradigms. Bhatti (2023)

asserts that there are career growth barriers facing women and lower pay than their male

counterparts, among other forms of gender discrimination. The issue with such a barrier is that

not only the progress in the development of women’s careers but also national growth suffers as

well. A comprehensive analysis of the employment data indicates that there is a growing gender

gap in terms of the workforce. Alghamdi et al. (2021) indicate that women continue to be largely

excluded from positions and industries where men traditionally dominate. This enormous

difference in employment creates gender disparities and limits the potential contribution of a

large part of the population to national development. Almathami, Khoo, and Yang (2021) add

that several elements lead to the continuation of gender discrimination in Saudi Arabian

workplaces. Traditional gender roles are based on cultural norms and societal expectations that

give rise to prejudiced attitudes toward women in the workplace (Almathami, Khoo, & Yang,

2021). Furthermore, the current laws and institutional practices may unknowingly promote

discriminatory behaviors without adequate measures to prevent discrimination by gender.

Along with this, traditional beliefs that classify women as inferior to their male

counterparts in terms of dedication or competence because they have family responsibilities

further aggravate it. Nadia and Abdulmohsen (2021) state that such stereotypes limit the access

of women to career-enhancing opportunities and thus create an atmosphere that is discriminatory

in character. The attainment of gender equality in the workplace surpasses a crusade for fairness;

it is currently imperative to the societal economic growth of Saudi Arabia. In addition, Tlaiss and

Al Waqfi (2022) note that a congenial working environment complements Vision 2030, which

covers Saudi Arabia and involves economic and social development. On the other hand, ending

workplace gender inequality does not only underline smart thinking in business but also has

implications for future national capital. Through the maximization of the potential of human

diversity, innovation, productivity, and global competitiveness, India can be enhanced (Nadia &

Abdulmohsen, 2021). The willingness of the people to tap into women’s hidden potential for

attaining quality as women and working towards nation-building is depicted in this. The problem

of gender discrimination at the workplace is also a complex issue that should be studied deeply

when one tries to explore cultural values and social behavior pertaining to both society and

institutions in Saudi Arabia. Galloway (2020) believes that through the recognition of the unique

challenges that women in particular face as part and parcel of their place in Saudi Arabia’s

workforce, taking measures towards developing an environment at a workplace even more

supportive for females becomes possible. This part of the strategy supports not only Vision 2030

but also makes Saudi Arabia a pioneer in gender equality issues on an international level.

Any efforts to understand why there is still gender discrimination in Saudi workplaces

Nov. 2023. As a form of discrimination, although it has changed to allow more women to

participate in the workforce and access employment, the workplace is still governed by

predominant hierarchies. Syed, Ali, and Hennekam (2018) argue the employment relationships in

Saudi Arabia are governed less by formal relations and more by a web of kinship and community

relational expectations. This remark indicates the absence of social change to support legal

change can result in the social reality of the country being more unequal than what is legally

prescribed. In the further elaboration by Syed et al (2018), because of informal relations, male

dominance is more easily exercised over women and employment is considered secondary to the

primary responsibility of household duties. These sociocultural and relational hierarchies

maintain unequal relations of power, even in organizations that are considered to be progressive.

The persistence of these cultural mechanisms is a reminder that the poles of equality that any

institution seeks to achieve, equally powerful initiative, will go beyond policy to the social

anchors that sustain hegemonic institutional practices. In addition, Syed et al (2018) argue for

more proactive and suggest that gender inclusion is still a work in progress that involves

modifying these relational norms and reconstituting them as bonds of mutual professional

dignity. This indicates that. Saudi Arabia is 2030 Vision Active and still Deficient in Devolution

of gendered relations of power which are slaved social definitions. Always and only are the legal

principles that are set internalized by workplaces as principles of equality, and moral and cultural

pillars as dominant standards of workplace relations after which alone do all the legal reforms

catalyze seismic shifts of change.

The modernization process and traditional attitudes towards gender continue to be pivotal

for Saudi women’s work experiences. Al-Asfour, Tlaiss, Khan, and Rajasekar (2017) noted that

women face both structural and cultural issues, such as the lack of possibilities for promotion, as

well as social conditioning that discourages assertive behavior. This indicates that economic

progress cannot be achieved in the absence of simultaneous cultural transformation. Al-Asfour et

al. (2017) argue that the pressures of the modern world and patriarchal world order create

paradoxes in which women are ostensibly free to work but are expected to do so within the

confines of patriarchy and sumbission. Such paradoxes are a source of strain since social

ambition and social compliance do not coincide. Moreover, there is a strong belief that such

paradoxical expectations are the reason why progress is stagnant in organizations which inhibit

female leadership and innovation (Al-Asfour et al., 2017). From a broader perspective, such

expectations reveal a society which is trying to balance global competitiveness with local

conservatism. It demonstrates that to empower women is not to provide them with opportunities,

but to change the narrative regarding achievements to be success without gendered parameters.

Undoing such paradoxes or contradictions necessitates forms of organizational behavior which

embrace women’s leadership positions that do not require her to abandon her cultural

background. As such, there is a need for the modernization process to be women-centered, and

not merely to treat women as passive recipients of change.

In Saudi Arabia, technology is a means of empowering women by enabling them to

circumvent existing boundaries. Almarzouki (2019) explains how women entrepreneurs can

conduct business from their homes, thereby reducing their chances of workplace discrimination.

There is a quiet revolution of females as technology affords them financial and psychological

control. Almarzouki (2019) warns, however, that a great number of women, in comparison to

men, are still digitally disadvantaged, mentor-less, and resource deprived. This disparity

illustrates deeper systemic inequalities that still exist in contemporary means of

disempowerment. In addition, the research suggests that while women are said to benefit from

online platforms, offline inequalities may persist in the form of unequal visibility and access to

markets (Almarzouki, 2019). The results show that while technology may enable women to

construct lives of their choosing, their circumstances are often underpinned by unsupportive,

institutional frameworks. In such cases, and considering the pervasive inequalities that women

are still socio-economically tethered by, technology may be the most superficial means of

empowerment. This is because technological empowerment is empowerment that is unequally

disbursed and, therefore, must be accompanied by strategic, innovative, and inclusive

educational frameworks that bolster women’s confidence. There must be the unpacking of

gender in the context of technological sanctions to enable women to transcend the boundaries of

participating in the digital economy and occupy leadership positions. This will ensure that the

disarming of gendered inequalities will not conceal digital disenfranchisement beneath the veil of

progress.

Cross-border activities introduce new forms of organizing that apply to challenges and

also reinforce Saudi gender norms. Alhejji et al (2018) highlighted that gender balance

frameworks are mostly ineffective in the operations of multinational firms due to the

contradictions between global and local practices. Such contradictions demonstrate the

shortcomings of the prism of Western equality models to other cultures. Alhejji et al (2018)

assert that the lack of engagement with local sentiments to the application of universal diversity

policies leads to the perceptions by the workers that such initiatives are top-down decisions.

These types of perceptions are detrimental to any form of real change and invoke protective

cultural backlash. The same authors remarked that Alhejji et al (2018) describes the “informal

distance” between local practices and written policies and other forms of gender initiatives to

lack accuracy and focus. This proves the point that transnational contexts need cultural

intelligence in formulating equality policies. Local and global norms must be aligned and real

integrated inclusiveness, not simplistic uniformity, understanding with local traditions requires

changes at this level. In this regard, multinational firms in Saudi Arabia need to research cross

culturally effective leadership to fill these voids. There are local traditions in Saudi Arabia.

When local traditions are coupled with global equity policies, such initiatives will be easier to

localise and transform for sustainability.

Saudi Arabia’s medical and educational sectors demonstrate persistent gender

inequalities in the country's professional landscape. In 2017, Baqi and others discovered the

discrepancy in workloads, promotions, and institutional recognition gendered female doctors,

regardless of policy level promises advocating for gender equality. The existing gender

inequalities demonstrate overt biases that equate ‘professional’ and ‘male.’ The authors also

pointed out the perceptions of dominance in the male - female relationships, which primary

reinforce the belief that women are marginalized in the world of decision - making and

mentorship opportunities (Baqi et al., 2017). Dispassionately, these results point out the

prevailing gender discrimination even in centers of specialized knowledge and institutions which

are ideal for the application of the philosophy of meritocracy. The culture of discrimination Baqi

et al. (2017) studied stems from the enduring belief that women’s family oriented obligations

renders them less able and competent. There is concern that such institutional culture encourages

lack of interest from women in attaining top positions and novel ideas in the healthcare systems.

The rectification of such unfair balances of equity requires organizational policy change in

addition to active mentorship which recognizes women’s ‘out of the box’ thinking. The culture

of equity within the organizational setup requires unbiased and sophisticated illusive training.

The systemic view is that professional equity is not something to be legislated, instead it requires

institutional reorientation of the primary values for professional equity to be developed.

Although progress has been made regarding inclusion and despite the unevenness, the

progress of including women remains to be seen, especially when it comes to the new era

indicators. Sabir and Zenaidi (2019) mentioned the advancements brought by state-sponsored

policies, which include the new employment opportunities in leadership positions, increased

women mobility, and new levels of participation in civil society. Conservative groups’ moral and

ideological backlash demonstrate that progress comes with costs (Sabir and Zenaidi, 2019).

While conservative groups’ backlash demonstrates a violation of the progress in social equity, it

equally displays the weakness of comprehensive legal changes in addressing deep-rooted socio-

cultural constructions to modify gender norms. This explains why Sabir and Zenaidi (2019)

argue that culture change, in this case, social change has to be accompanying with education and

social mobilization. Most importantly, it does highlight. For any progress to be made, social

equity has to be transformed to a normative standard woven into the public conception, in this

case- social imagination. A state driven initiative is the last and weakest side of the collective

value system socially embraced by the public. By civilizing the moral argument in parallel with

the legal approach, balanced progress can be made with the social and women integration, where

the new identity will be in accordance with the unchanged and the changed values in the internal

tradition of the country.

Previous Strategies

Although Saudi Arabia has attempted to address workplace gender-based discrimination

through a number of strategies in the past, the continued prevalence of this practice indicates that

these approaches have not entirely worked. According to Al-Nasrallah (2023), the main issue is

the deeply entrenched cultural and societal expectations of gender roles that are evident in

workplace relationships. On the other hand, some of the approaches that were adopted in the past

included legal reforms to promote gender equality. Although Saudi Arabia has progressed

considerably in this respect and allowed women to drive as well as increased their presence in

the workforce, despite these changes, cultural barriers dampen the impact or efficiency of such

laws. Aldossari and Calvard (2021) found that such regulatory provisions are still rooted in deep-

seated traditional beliefs about gender roles, impacting their interpretation and enforcement at

the workplace. The other approach was directed at educational programs to combat gender

stereotypes and bias. According to Aldossari and Calvard (2021), it is also worth noting that such

programs have had little influence, as societal norms and expectations are stronger than what the

educational campaigns offer. Cultural changes naturally take time, and the resistance to cultural

changes usually stands in the way of attempts to change attitudes deeply rooted in culture.

Aldossari and Calvard (2021) add that other reforms in the economic sphere are focusing on the

line function. Despite all these efforts, none of them solves the problem at its roots; gender

discrimination in employment continues to exist. The acceptance of only certain careers within

the established societal mindset causes an accumulation and narrowing down of women in

specific fields and industries, depriving them of overall professional advancement.

Secondly, the absence of full enforcement actions and measures to hold people

responsible for what they did has lessened their consequences. Despite legislation and policies,

Aldossari and Calvard (2021) suggest that if there are no hard implementation rules in place,

then discriminatory practices will still arise. This enforcement gap builds a drug culture of

impunity where gender-based discrimination can run its course. Clearly, Aldossari and Calvard

(2021) mean that all the previous strategies that Saudi Arabia has tried to address gender-based

discrimination in workplaces have their own limitations, mainly due to cultural barriers, a lack of

proper implementation tools, and the well-rooted nature of such deep-seated stereotypes. For

major improvements, future opportunities must act on the attitudes of society at large, improve

enforcement through law, and thus promote a paradigm shift towards true gender equality in

work (Aldossari & Calvard, 2021). It is beyond question that only by implementing a

comprehensive and sustained plan will Saudi Arabia be able to effectively tackle the deeply

rooted problem of workplace gender inequality.

The Proposed Strategy

The proposed comprehensive intervention for the poor efficacy of dealing with the

perpetuation of gender discrimination in the Saudi workplace is based on cultural, societal, and

institutional perspectives. According to Al-Nasrallah (2023), Galloway (2020), and Aldossari

and Calvard (2021), this approach aims at effecting lasting changes on the disability base by

targeting core causes, building on ongoing initiatives, and ensuring a diverse and fair workplace.

Goals

The overarching goals for this initiative encompass a holistic approach to societal

transformation in Saudi Arabia. Firstly, there is a commitment to instigate a cultural

metamorphosis by revitalizing gender norms and fostering a more inclusive and diverse mindset

within the nation (Al-Nasrallah, 2023). In tandem, there is an emphasis on fortifying the legal

framework to proactively shield individuals from gender-based discrimination in employment,

thereby enhancing the efficacy of existing legislation and control mechanisms (Galloway, 2020).

Furthermore, the initiative seeks to drive economic empowerment for women by implementing

policies promoting gender-neutral practices at the organizational level, aligning with Aldossari

and Calvard's (2021) recommendations. Lastly, educational initiatives will play a pivotal role,

aiming to disseminate targeted teachings on the repercussions of gender discrimination and

advocating for a cultural shift towards inclusivity over exclusion (Aldossari & Calvard, 2021).

Target groups

A wider target client is a key factor in the complete range of responses to gender

discrimination. Rather, interplay with government institutions begins when alliances and

resistance strategies oriented toward modern laws' enactment are targeted because most

constituent governments deal with labor, education, or women's issues. Second Bhatti (2023)

proposes that the private sector share in pursuing gender-balanced policies and fostering

diversity and inclusiveness within workplaces to ensure opportunities for all. In the second place,

this partnership with educational establishments, not just schools but universities as well, is

important because we are talking about gender equity education in early childhood that leads to

culture formation (Aldossari & Calvard, 2021). Tlaiss and Al Waqfi (2022) suggest that media

organizations are excellent members that spread insightful news on intelligent women in

different careers to negate molds and invade with a beneficial message. This way of strategic

targeting all government, economy, education, and mass media impacts a broad-based approach

to addressing the discourse of gender discrimination across various societal layers.

Potential Allies

The challenge of eradicating gender inequality will largely depend on forging alliances

with stakeholders. The second is through cooperation with women’s rights advocates, both

national and international, trained not only in resource and best practice sharing but also in

advocacy initiative support (Nadia & Abdulmohsen, 2021). This partnership allows for different

visions and creates harmony in the campaign. This is significant since, in such organizations,

business managers are able to direct change. According to Nadia and Abdulmohsen (2021), it

will ensure that objectives are strategically implemented through genderless policy when a

proper understanding of the financial implications associated with diversity is given. This step is

required by society, with the help of religious leaders. In reality, Tlaiss and Al Waqfi (2022)

state that by working with external agencies that are informed of gender equality initiatives, they

can facilitate knowledge sharing and use best practices in countries worldwide, thereby making

local engagement more efficient. These alliances build an integrated force to fight gender

oppression by combating it from different angles and encouraging structural change,

respectively.

Education is one of the most powerful instruments for achieving gender equality. It can

facilitate collaboration across government ministries and civil society organizations. Al–Shahrani

(2016) notes that the ability of Saudi women to meet the qualifications of and participate in the

workforce is due to the empowering aspects of education. This means that there is a critical need

for alliances among educational policymakers, women’s organizations, and the business sector to

create appropriate participation and equity frameworks. Al-Shahrani (2016) suggests that

partnerships in education with a focus on vocational education and mentorship can enhance

women’s employability and leadership potential. This means that there is need for partnerships in

curriculum development and vocational education and training to ensure there is an alignment

between the educational outcomes and the labor market. Besides, Al-Shahrani (2016) argues that

educational change also needs to alter cultural practices that impede the aspirations of women,

relating to the fact that learners should be socially and intellectually enabled. These initiatives

enhance the basis for equity by promoting the visibility of women in many professions. These

partnerships enhance the link between gender policy and education, establishing a self-

reinforcing cycle of empowerment that carries on well after the reforms, embedding gender

equality in the core of the country’s development framework.

No less critical are partnerships that promote women’s leadership and mentorship within

the working environment. Saudi women in management Abalkhail (2016) notes are often victims

of systemic exclusion from leadership pipelines because of traditional systems and a lack of

supportive networks. This points out the need for mentorship partnerships that bridge aspiring

women leaders with specialists who are willing to support and promote their careers. Institutional

partnerships Abalkhail (2016) further argues, especially those involving universities and

businesses, can provide Saudi women leadership development programs offering the appropriate

structure to the culture and profession. These partnerships increase women’s visibility in

management and enhance their decision-making influence. Hodges (2017) points out that to

dismantle the “figurative walls of leadership,” the misconceptions that are attributed to women

with regard to leadership and competence need to be addressed. This shows that leadership

partnerships differ from the rest because they not only provide support to women but also change

the work environment to accept women in leadership positions. Such partnerships facilitate

change at the institutional level because they demonstrate that there is need for collaboration

between organizations and mentorship beyond mere policy documents to achieve enduring

gender equity.

Other than Saudi Arabia’s increasing international partnerships, increasing workplace

equality has Badran’s (2017) case stating that international working together in the sponsoring

the cultivation of preserving the culture’s uniqueness. This unique preserving culture approach

involves everything in the change, supporting the women’s right reform that goes alongside the

change in the nation. Badran (2017) shares that the I.L.O. outlined importance of

encouragements, in goals, frameworks, and region, together with the private sectors, for gender

equality in the goals of the country’s employment policies. In all of these arrangements the

primary focus is “gender equality with the region.” Also Badran (2017) describes the mutual

understanding and the appreciation the Saudi women received within the developed countries

becoming “gender mutual understanding and appreciation.” This supports the idea that Saudi

women, with all changes of gender equality within the nation, do not move if international

boundaries are not crossed. On the other hand, the building of transnational cooperation turns the

change of Saudi from a regional duty to a universally accepted mutual support and development

change agenda.

Partnerships aimed at diversifying the workplace and reforming human resources also

offer valuable opportunities for change. According to Hodges (2017), changes to the

organization’s pillars and the organization’s structure will only be achieved through

collaborative efforts of employers, policy formulators, and gender advocates aimed at removing

the structures that block access to inclusion. This observation underscores the need for workplace

reform to function as a social movement, and not simply as a managerial one. There are already

partnerships of business and reform-oriented civic organizations to advance equitable

recruitment to and inclusion in employment and policy frameworks responsive to Vision 2030

(Sabir & Zenaidi, 2019). These authors show that the adoption of gendered strategies in the

management of the organization’s resources spurs the organization’s growth, showing that

gender equity has instrumental value alongside the social, ethical, and moral value of gender

equity. Albahoth (2018) adds that women’s and business counseling programs that advocate for

women’s entrepreneurial activities create more avenues for women’s participation in the public

and private sectors. These cases demonstrate the convergence of social equity and economic

growth. Having observed this, partnerships for workplace change signal a fundamental change in

perspective. Such partnerships indicate inclusivity will be part of the organization’s essence and

identity, gender equity will be positioned at the core of policy alignment, and the organization

will demonstrate shared accountability, institutional adaptive learning, and gender responsive

transformational change.

Strategic partnerships that involve community, religious, and media stakeholders can be

critical in changing societal attitudes and perceptions on the place women occupy in the world.

Varshney (2019) remarks that contrary to what is perceived cultural incongruities persist even

after reforms have been instituted because social discourses continue to regard women’s

advancement as outlier as opposed to the standard. Engaging in partnership with community

leadership and religious organizations can help achieve a balance between reform goals and

ethical cultures in the envisioning and implementation of cultures that promote equality. Badran

(2017) also argues that advocacy coalitions which synthesise the grassroots with a more

cosmopolitan rhetoric provide a sustainable embrace of social attitudes towards gender reform.

These partnerships also give plausibility and affective salience, with the result that gender

equality and equity is also framed as a marker of patriotism. Sabir and Zenaidi (2019) also argue

that the media, in particular, acts as a progressive partner by emphasizing the successes of

women and changing the public perception of women in positions of power and leadership and

what they can do. From a social transformation dimension, these partnerships reinforce the

argument that social change is not only structural, but cultural as well. There is no doubt that by

harnessing such moral power and media in the Saudi context, it is possible to cultivate a public

attitude which regards gender equity not as a challenge to the so-called traditional order, but as

an integral part of the nation’s advancement and dignity.

Instruments

Complex methods like advocacy of legislation, business development partnerships,

instructional commercials, and training programs can be considered successful when it comes to

changing society. In the field of policy advocacy and reform, working with government agencies

is key to addressing the revision and reinforcement of laws that discourage discrimination as well

as advocating for policies that promote gender balance in work settings, such as equal pay and

employment opportunities (Tlaiss & Al Waqfi, 2022). The initiative promotes collaborative

alliances, including partnerships with leading corporations, to implement and demonstrate

successful gender-neutral policies. Acknowledging and appreciating organizations demonstrating

a dedication to gender equality adds to this task (Galloway, 2020). Educational campaigns are a

vital part of having programs targeting schools and colleges focusing on dismantling gender

discrimination and creating an environment that preaches respect and parity, as per Alf Drossari

and Calvard (2021). Additionally, according to Al-Nasrallah (2023), the initiative focuses on

developing training programs for human resource practitioners and managers with a specific

focus on the necessity of work environment diversity, inclusive settings, and unconscious bias.

Implementation

The implementation of the strategy is focused on certain critical actions that are aimed at

promoting cooperation and encouraging change. In the first place, Nadia and Abdulmohsen

(2021) posit that a government-appointed task force composed of representatives, women’s

rights advocates, and business leaders will help implement legal reforms as well as policies. This

collaborative approach offers a comprehensive platform in the battle against gender

discrimination. Additionally, Nadia and Abdulmohsen (2021) believe that the private sector and

public collaborations will be improved as a result of discourse forums on alliances in the

implementation of gender equality programs. Integration of education aims to get facilities on

board and deliver gender equality by incorporating into classroom teaching techniques that will

lay the foundation for respecting diversity early in life. Some could be done in media efforts by

working with mass media to spread tales of triumphs achieved by female women who defy

stereotypes. Lastly, Aldossari and Calvard (2021) conclude that an effective monitoring and

evaluation system will be implemented with a permanent reporting format on the effectiveness of

strategy as well as ongoing alterations within time.

Incorporating strategies for gender equality while dismembering reform as a compliance

check would be counterproductive to success implementation in organizational culture across the

Saudi Arabia business landscape. This culture needs to be designed by incorporating frameworks

from sustainability because as per Syed, Ali, and Hennekam (2018), workplace relational

dynamics are pivotal while pluralistic frameworks are a peripheral focus. This understanding

implies that organizations must align activities that allow collaboration, mentorship, and

inclusive decision-making to become standard operating procedures. Cited in Syed et al. (2018),

the effectiveness of internal change in organizations signifies gender separation as an inclusive

practice when men and women alike, appreciate it as a policy, not a policy. Appreciating that,

analytically, brings the need for the strategy to be emotionally and intellectually owned by the

employee in order to foster the spirit needed for implementation. It is, therefore, a necessity that

all actions having to do with performance reviews, leadership training, and incorporating

equality integration are not marginal, but aimed from all sides to accelerate the institution’s

development. Along with this, Syed et al. (2018) have highlighted that awareness of relationships

and networks can change workplaces from being hierarchical to mutual, enhancing cooperation

and respect. This makes it possible to combine behavioral and structural reform, ensuring that

policy and practice demonstrate a linked understanding of the principles of equality.

A clear case of disparity in gender equality in much of the world's employment

opportunities can be highlighted especially in the highest leadership roles in organizations.

Several studies have indicated that the "glass ceiling" phenomenon is particularly acute for

women of color and women with disabilities. Al-Asfour, Tlaiss, Khan, and Rajasekar (2017'')

point out that the failure of programs aimed at gender balance is largely due to the lack of

understanding of the concept of "implied bias" at all levels. Their work reinforces the need for

more precise and specific workshops and training programs that tackle issues of bias and

discriminatory management on both conscious and unconscious levels. Al-Asfour, Tlaiss, Khan,

and Rajasekar (2017) contend that the case for gender balance in the workplace is itself an

incentive for reducing workplace conflict. This suggests that policy reform should neither be the

first, nor the only, consideration in the redesign of the professional workplace. In practice, the

conscious exercise of the training developed to meet these objectives builds and shapes a culture

of caring and understanding that allows equality programs to be integrated more readily.

Varshney (2019'') states that understanding the social and economic benefits of inclusion

motivates employees to become proactive for social change rather than depositories of change.

Education of this kind slowly nurtures a culture which accepts equality as a core part of it is

organizational culture and identity rather than an externally imposed burden.

Gendered digital economies exemplify the rapidly changing intersections of technology

which range from the construction of SSHRC superclusters to AI-powered microtask platforms

consuming multiple levels of global value chains. Digital technologies and the infrastructures

they occupy thus serves as the fundamental enabler of value chains, social networks, and

complex relational geographies central to digital capitalism. Digital platforms, while enabling

broad access to the global economy, also stretch the boundaries of neo-colonialism and other

forms of global power inequalities. Just as digital capitalism, as described by Hearn and his

group of researchers (2017), emanates from multiple intersections of non-capitalist social and

economic arrangements, gendered digital economies reconfigure relational geographies of

gender not as emulational complements but as breaks. Breaks from patriarchal geographies and

reconfiguring of microgeographies of gender. Women's downward mobility from the

sociotechnical utopia of digital investments of the Global South to the technology-drenched

rustbelt of the Global North demonstrates the cracks of gendered digital economies which leak

backward to the colonial geographies of labour. Rather, to which geographies of gender do

investments in digital economies, development, and social integration leak? Which social

formations become possible as geographies and technoculture unruly? What aspirations of social

and/or gender justice do digital cloud infrastructures from the Global North unground in the

South? Which reconfigurations of power, whether techno-political, socio-economic, or geo-

epistemic, are dis, and/or spliced, produced by investment?

Joint governance between multinational businesses and local organizations also provides

effective alternative paths of implementation. Alhejji et al. (2018) observed that the gap between

global diversity policies and local cultures can be an obstacle to gender inclusion. This suggests

that implementation will need to manage cultural distance by reframing global gender equity

principles to the Saudi organizational context. Alhejji et al. (2018) noted also that socially

anchored fairness principles more effective than equity frameworks in achieving the socially

desired outcomes. This illustrates, in analytical terms, that reform frameworks need to integrate

globalized knowledge within local cultural frameworks. Baqi et al. (2017) have also noted that in

professional settings, such as health care, policies that are brought from internationally focused

models are often met with resistance unless they are transformed to fit the operational realities of

the workplaces. This suggests that the effectiveness of multinational partnerships is rooted in

reciprocal acquisition and modification. Developing systems for intercultural dialogue and

response can close the gaps in policies and make implementation more demographically diverse

and contextually appropriate. This way, reform is not an external ‘blueprint’ but rather a

collective ethical responsibility.

Public communication, and advocacy, utilize media and advocacy, and communication

for more than publicizing advocacy the implementation of policies. Sabir and Zenaidi (2019)

state that media engagement under the Vision 2030 framework has helped reshape public

conversations about professional opportunities for women. Their work argues that the successful

Saudi women narrative in the media fosters the public's acceptance of equality and helps to

dismantle prevailing stereotypes. According to Sabir and Zenaidi (2019), collaborative

campaigns involving government bodies and media practitioners can maintain advocacy and

stimulate public interest. This analysis shows that the implementation of policies advancement of

women incorporates the social fabric that subjects the reform as a national imperative. Varshney

(2019) argues that repetitive media narratives evoke specific cultural meanings, enabling reform

to sink in society's subconscious. Therefore, communication that is strategic does not only

inform people but also ensures that the aspiration for gender equality is part and parcel of the

Saudi identity. This is accomplished through the transformation of communication frameworks.

Reform strategies, through the institutionalization of media partnerships, advance the

emotional engagement and social endurance of the changes that extend beyond the legal and

administrative boundaries of the changes. For successful implementation, the last pillars are

monitoring, evaluation, and adaptive governance. Baqi et al. (2017) state if there are no

monitoring and feedback loops then the gender policies are purely a rhetorical exercise. Effective

monitoring frameworks enable the assessments of progress and, therefore, the identification of

gaps that need fixing. According to Sabir and Zenaidi (2019), evaluation systems that are

constructed in tandem with public accountability help in fostering the trust of stakeholders. In

this case, it shows that there is a need to rethink the approach to reform as something that should

progress dynamically rather than a fixed policy. Alhejji et al. (2018) further argued that

continuous evaluation helps with learning and the country’s strategic goals alignment.

Stakeholders become reformative when there is evidence of tangible progress that can be built

upon for reform sustainability. More so, evidence and data empower stakeholders to design

specific policies for various sectors and regions. A dynamic monitoring system, therefore, shifts

implementation from policy compliance to the active and ongoing improvement of the dialogue.

Gender equality is no exception as it continues to be a practice woven into the developmental

outlook of the country, particularly Saudi Arabia.

Cultural Transformation Pathways

The most critical element for gender equality in Saudi Arabia remains the evolution of its

culture. Vision 2030's initiatives and institutional transformations progress at an unparalleled

rate, but still require an evolution of the societal attitudes, behaviors, and moral frameworks

connected to the gendered tasks in question. Although the Vision 2030 strategies have

transformed the labor and leadership markets, and opportunities for women have expanded, the

pace of change remains sluggish, something cultural conservatism still influences (Sabir &

Zenaidi, 2019). It is a telling finding that change cannot be captured by the sheer number of

women in the workplace, but by the measure of societal change. The moral and social order of

society, where certain gendered roles are socialized as immutable and non-negotiable as rationed

by a higher power, is an active target for reform. Gender equality must be approached within

cultural and religious frameworks to avoid presenting it as an imported Western value. Culturally

relevant arguments in reform discussions facilitate genuine, profound, and lasting changes.

This discusses the interplay of social norms, religious readings, and impacts on gendered

attitudes and frameworks. Badran (2017) underscores the importance of culture in relation to the

Arab world and its influence on the success and failure of initiatives aimed at gender equality.

This proves that social change regarding attitudes toward work, leadership, and the essence of

womanhood, must occur at a social meaning level, without which change remains impossible.

Furthermore, Badran (2017) contends that reform in Islamic society must accompany social

change to prevent a moral 'pushback.' This analytic observation underscores that progress within

Saudi Arabia rests upon the ability to negotiate the heart of its religion toward shifting social

paradigms. Proponents of change suggest that 'wider' religious frameworks that embrace fairness,

equality, and cohesiveness as divine ideals will dismantle the pillars of social 'backlash' and

legitimize the call for gender equity as an Islamic principle. This underscores the moral aspects

of equity, bringing culture as an instrument of change, while the social aspects remain

predominant.

Westernization is still seen as the most significant transformative influence on Saudi

education. This is largely Al Shahrani’s jump into the river of uncertainty. Such exclusionary

systems of education provide a superficial sense of empowerment, which permits Saudi Arabia,

and similar countries, to audaciously assert the baseless notion of liberalization. Al Shahrani

(2016)’s extraordinary commitment to the empowerment of Saudi women demonstrates clearly

that, even now, women cannot enter the workforce due to a lack of social, political, and, most

critically, economic self-confidence. This suggests that the expectation of attainment is a result

of the curriculum and not from the individual’s true aspirations. Al Shahrani (2016)’s framework

further emphasizes the notion of sequential dominance, where the concept of gender inequality is

understood in a Cosmo visional framework and is socialized into the psyche of every child from

a very tender age in which leadership and competence are not associated with a particular

gender. Such pedagogy is what empowers women in the workforce as the women perceive

inclusion through the curriculum as a normative condition. The phenomenon of cross-payment

between the institutional and cultural transformations brought about by education is rare, which

in turn, increases the value of such a phenomenon.

Cultural changes in Saudi Arabia include changes in the workplace. According to Hodges

(2017), female employees in Saudi Arabia should be in management positions, but leadership in

Saudi organizations is still structured patriarchally. While her analysis explains that cultural

assumptions about authority and the competence of women could explain this phenomenon, it

suggests structural changes without efforts to modify cultural assumptions are likely to be

superficial. Emphasizing Hodges (2017), the gender gap is most readily closed when designated

leaders are present who actively counter and normalize the stigma around women’s leadership.

Such leadership, in a representative sense, performs a metaphorical function of expressing

women equity. When authority is given to a woman, it alters the male hierarchy and the

collective consciousness surrounding capability. Consequently, the stagnation of societal and

organizational advancements of a civilization is socially and culturally defined as the presence of

women in leadership positions. Transformation of the political order, in this sense, is a result of

the social practice and enforcement of laws. Active social structures and role integration are

necessary drivers for this shift.

Another significant point about the recontextualized culture of Saudi Arabia is how it

deals with negotiating the contradictions. Wherever one goes in the world, paradoxical situations

are part of the modernized era. The gender paradox is of particular note as the integration of

women’s advancing is being celebrated but is also equally contested. Competing narratives of

social progress serves as a hinderance, paradoxical as it is. One narrative is the progress of the

nation as a whole, while the other is the defense of a ‘moral’ social order. These dissonances

affect the realities of women in Saudi Arabia who are caught in the paradox of the constant

shifting of oppression and empowerment. Considering this and the context of Saudi Arabia, the

claim of Varshney in this instance is that societal reformation that addresses the paradoxes of a

social order should primarily engage in dialogue as a means of mediation for reformation.

Allowing social discourse to evolve through negotiation on paradoxes of a society will aid the

reformation discourse in lowering resistance and fostering acceptance.

Varshney (2019) further elaborates that in conservative societies, the placement of

women in some leadership roles function as a symbolic measure in helping to close the distance

between conservative policies and modern aspirations. The example of the development of

leadership in Saudi women elaborates the modern change of development that is the negotiated

within the framework of modern transformation and demonstrates that it is possible to transcend

cultural and moral impediments of the past.

The gaps also suggest the potential for different cultural pathways for bridging the gender

gap. In regard to the progressive changes inline towards the modernization of Saudi Arabia, it

should be the development of leadership. Abalkhail (2016) indicates that even management level

women are overlooked, and even when potential women are possible, the institutions are hostile

and lacking in validating cultures. This speaks to the cultural aspect of the problem more than the

technical aspect. This also suggests the long-standing cultural construct of competence and the

cultural construct of hierarchy. Abalkhail (2016) mentions that the pillars of structural

mentorship and sponsorship should be used as the cultural reframing tools of advocacy and

bridge-building towards the communities of aligned distributed sponsorship. When such

partnerships are made available for the public as sponsor-ships across the organization, the

frameworks of belonging extend beyond the individual organization. From this view, the

development of leadership should be a refinement hypothesized as systemic of the national

reforms. It bring about the elements of associative thinking, collaboration, stereotype defiance,

and reciprocal regard. Most importantly, it is the male leaders as allies who slice away at the

metaphorical walls maintaining the workplace segregation. Therefore, the leadership reform is an

act of cultural transformation. It reinforces the notion that institutional changing behavior reflects

social norms.

Saudi Arabia's pathway towards transformation and change lies in change within

institutional morale and strategic social imagination. According to Sabir and Zenaidi (2019),

reforms concerning women's empowerment and integration within society constitute

modernization. Vision 2030 relies heavily on citizens’ perceptions towards equality and their

cultural and religious identities. This balancing act during transformation captures the Saudi

paradox: importing and indigenizing modernity. Cultural change, by definition, is an internal

change within the Saudi society, and so, from the fabric of society, it cannot be imported. Badran

(2017) and Hodges (2017) state that gender equality advocacy is strengthened by community

discourse, religious validation, and institutional support. From an analytical standpoint, the

success of the 2030 strategic plan is predicated on the efficient integration of these elements to

transform and redefine social norms. In the convergence of religiously framed discourse,

mentorship, diverse workplaces, education reform, and inclusive religious discourse, there is a

movement toward a society in which equality is not only sanctioned, but morally endorsed. In

this context, culture transformation involves reorienting Saudis' perceptions on identity,

development, and the ethical foundations of shared humanity.

Women’s Economic Empowerment

Women’s economic empowerment has gained unprecedented importance within Saudi

Arabia’s socio-developmental transformation under Vision 2030. Here, empowerment goes

beyond employment numbers to include the reallocation of opportunities, access to resources,

and the recognition of women’s economic contributions. Syed, Ali, and Hennekam (2018)

suggest inequality in employment opportunities cuts across formal legal frameworks and

encompasses the social and relational frameworks that undergird the hierarchy within the

workplace. This is a reminder that empowerment must reach, and change, the informal control

systems that sustain the monopoly of men over organizational advancement. From an analytical

point of view, empowerment entails not just the presence of women but the parity that is required

inclusion within the adjacent decision-making structures. Syed et al. (2018) further argue that

inclusion policies must focus on the interdependence of family, work, and community cohesion

to effect real change. This points to the reality that economic empowerment must include cultural

change. As initiatives to empower women economically advance, the reality of the unequal

recognition of women’s economic contributions, relative to the employment of men, is glaring.

Economic roles must be understood, articulated, and legally defended as central to national

development. This outlook will position the anticipated Vision 2030 administrative reforms as a

mere reallocation of economic roles, and not a redistribution of economic roles between men and

women.

Women’s economic participation calls for addressing the obstacles concerning the

inequity of the upward moving scales and unequal pay for work of equal value. According to a

study by Al-Asfour, Tlaiss, Khan, and Rajasekar (2017), the dual biases of gender discrimination

in hiring and promotion are stunted the professional development of Saudi Arabian women. This

finding indicates the need for economic empowerment to incorporate the redesigning of human

resource procedures to strengthen the frameworks of evaluation and promotion equity.

Leadership training and access to important, strategic roles are still denied to women

predominantly due to a mix of cultural norms and a lack of institutional bias (Al-Asfour et al.

2017). Such dual constraints are remarkable evidence to sustain a claim that equity in

compensation and professional mobility are inextricably linked. Women are not going to close

the gap in unequal pay for work of equal value without equal access to the upper echelons of the

organizational hierarchy. Syed et al. 2018 takes the perspective of systemic reform and

relationality of gender by saying that to achieve inclusion, workplace power needs

reconfiguration and one cannot simply add women to the existing power structures. This

suggests that institutional logics of ability, merit, and leadership need to be redefined in ways

that accommodate the many different talents women possess. This needs to change in order for

pay equity to become a reality and not just a compliance issue.

Women in Saudi Arabia are becoming economically empowered through

entrepreneurship, but there are still many barriers that need to be addressed. Almarzouki (2019)

states that a sizable number of Saudi women have become and are home based digital

entrepreneurs, bypassing some of the obstacles posed by traditional employment. It signals a

shift from reliance to self-empowerment as women can now tap into digital avenues and markets.

Almarzouki (2019) however, cautions that this self-empowerment is illusive, as many women are

still constrained by the digital divide and a lack of access to an adequate financing, and

mentorship networks. This suggests that while digital entrepreneurship can be revolutionary, it

can also be instrumental in deepening social inequities. Varshney’s (2019) work highlights how

women entrepreneurs in the country are re-defining economic participation to be more aligned

with inclusive business and socially responsible enterprises that support the aims of the national

reforms. Varshney (2019) further argues that to ensure the sustainable growth of these

enterprises, the entrepreneurial ecosystem needs to be augmented with mentorship, adequate

financing, training, and the proactive implementation of gender-sensitive policies. With this in

mind, it would be helpful to understand all this in another fashion and state that technology-led

entrepreneurship would be a novel and breakthrough emulation in the way to achieving solutions

other than the achieved stop gaps to the economic empowerment on a broader sense.

The authors emphasize the importance of equitable participation of women in all

disciplines during Vision 2030 in the male-dominated fields of finance, engineering, and public

administration, as well as in the public administration of the Vision 2030 framework policies.

This, particularly in engineering and finance, is because women’s contribution is redefining the

prevailing national stereotypical views of women’s workforce participation. This is part of the

agenda of incorporating gender egalitarianism within the framework of economic modernization.

However, as the authors observe, this is the case, even as some of the growth is at times slow and

socioculturally regressive. The slow sociocultural acceptance of this phenomenon is,

analytically, the outcome of the reality, that even as the labor market participation is

empowering, does not equate to expression, especially in the context of prevailing workplace

culture and practices, along with the culture of the workplace and employment policies and labor

relations. The authors Baqi et al. (2017) point to the inequitable distribution of work and

unrecognized inequitable professional advancement and organizational support as the challenges

faced by women professionals in sectors such as healthcare. Therefore, workforce participation

in isolation is not sufficient to the literature. Sustainable development is paired with sufficient

and sustained empowerment through formal organizational gender framework that put policies in

place aimed at equity advancement through work culture and role evaluation, as well as

organizational gender policies.

Fair compensation continues to be an important facet of justice and a form of

empowerment for women. Al-Asfour et al. (2017) states that in Saudi Arabia, the gender pay gap

is a case of poor performance assessment and segregation in the workforce. This type of

inequality locks women in under-skilled, low-paying, and poorly compensated positions. From a

conceptual standpoint, narrowing the wage gap requires an elimination of discriminatory

remuneration tactics, as well as an unseating of cultural ideologies that promote economic

subordination. Syed et al. (2018) explain that wage equalization involves complex gendered

power relations and inequitable systems that determine disproportionately greater value for men.

Hence, equal pay implies that the value, competence, and productivity expectations gets

realigned at a social level and not just financially. Sabir and Zenaidi (2019) highlight that in

wage fair policy, the combination of pay transparency and accountability is enhanced with media

exposure of equitable organizations. This positions wage equity not just as a point of

empowerment, but a declaration of justice for equitable compensation as a human right and a

form of right to national development.

Financial inclusion is yet another facet of empowerment and increases the independence

and entrepreneurial potential of women through access to credit, investments, and savings tools.

Varshney (2019) states that financially driven services remain a chief barrier to Saudi women

who desire to establish or grow a business, leading to limited economic participation and

confining women to informal and micro enterprises. Financial inclusion needs to be envisaged

analytically as access structurally and not individually. It needs the alleviation of barriers and the

relinquishing of the structures that keep women locked out of the formal financial system.

Almarzouki (2019) states that the collaborations between banks and fintech and government

agencies will close this gap through customized financial services and entrepreneurial

mentorship. Additionally, Sabir and Zenaidi (2019) emphasize that the enhancement of access to

finance for women directly increases a nation’s competitiveness by diversifying the pillars of the

economy. Hence, financial inclusion ought to be incorporated in the top tier of priorities of

economic reforms and modernization. When women have sufficient interlocked capital, literacy,

and institutional trust, they improve the economic resilience and innovative activities of their

households and communities.

The role of collaborative governance and cross-sector partnerships becomes evident in

the expansion and lasting impact of initiatives aimed at empowerment. Alhejji, Ng, Garavan, and

Carbery (2018) state that Saudi Arabia-based multinational enterprises fail to apply gender

equality frameworks within the company due to a lack of understanding of the culture.

Empowerment initiatives seem to be more successful when incorporating a culturally informed

approach. Integrating culturally informed approaches analytically positions adaptability at the

center of the implementation of empowerment initiatives so that they remain legitimate and

inclusive. Baqi et al. (2017) point out that empowerment policies in the absence of active

endorsement and modeling of leadership in gender-balanced behavior from top executives in a

company fails for the example of the academic and health care sectors. This indicates the

necessity for accountable leadership, which emphasizes the role policy frameworks play in the

achievement of organizational goals. Policies aimed at the inclusion of governance empower

organizations and advance innovation and social cohesiveness (Syed et al., 2018). Therefore,

partnerships across the state, businesses, and the community can be designed to promote

governance in which social empowerment is integrated into the institutional framework of the

Saudi Arabian social order. Empowerment becomes a socio-economic objective rather than

solely a form of economic attainment.

The process of redefining the place of women in the economy is the redefinition of a

society. Varshney (2019) cites the unattainability of transformative legislation on the redefinition

and the inner structural changes of the public consciousness and the restructuring of gender

concentric circles. This viewpoint strengthens the argument on the interrelation of cultural and

economic changes. Syed et al. (2018) assert the importance of relational social structures in the

manner women are given opportunity and in the exercise of their economic control. This

necessitates the community engagement component of the empowerment and redefining

narratives of women in the economy with the social and economic benefits of their involvement

at the family and community structures. Sabir and Zenaidi (2019) articulate the intergenerational

transmission of aspiration symbols in women’s new sector employment describing the workforce

as new and progressive. The analytical approach to the empowerment of women in Saudi Arabia

signals the blending of modernity and tradition. The focus should be on developing a national

narrative where economic empowerment of women is accepted as part of the social composition

and cultural complexity of a nation rather than a disruption.

Leadership and Mentorship Networks

Building and maintaining strategic mentorship and leadership networks for women in

Saudi Arabia is one of the most effective ways to begin to untangle the various discriminatory

barriers that have historically limited women’s access to decision-making positions. It is

essential to recognize that leadership development is more than a linear process and that there

must also be cultural and institutional frameworks that bestow legitimate and normative authority

to women leaders. Abalkhail (2016) contends Saudi women in management positions suffer from

both visible and hidden issues such as exclusion from informal circles of leadership and

consequently sponsorship. Lack of such frameworks fosters gendered isolation, a paradox of

professional advancement. Abalkhail (2016) also observes that women in management tend to

suffer from a unique form of “symbolic inclusion” in which their presence is acknowledged but

their impact is diminished. In a more analytical sense, this signifies that mentorship is not limited

to referral, but rather includes the nurturing of sponsorship arrangements where women leaders

are strategically and actively provided support to support their advancement. Thus, leadership

networks that are centered on women’s empowerment become crucial in reshaping the

discriminatory organizational hierarchies that prevail.

Developing effective mentorship structures involves recognizing the cultural factors that

influence women’s leadership ambitions within Saudi Arabia. Hodges (2017) states that women

leaders encounter substantial “walls of leadership” as a result of institutional exclusion and

deeply rooted sociocultural views regarding women’s abilities. This suggests that any

empowerment initiatives will need to address the psychological and the systemic factors

associated with leadership. Mentorship can be transformative in that it equips women with the

necessary skills and the moral confidence to withstand the challenges of male-dominated

professional fields. Hodges (2017) suggests that organizations with inclusive leadership paths

help to decouple the notion of authority from being a gendered attribute, redefining it as a

relational and situated competency. Such a shift empowers women and transforms the

institutional culture. Badran (2017) suggests that regional labor policy changes promoting gender

equity need to be accompanied by initiatives that intentionally cultivate leadership identities

among women so that their participation in managerial roles leads to transformational changes.

Mentorship, in this instance, is a tangible policy that becomes practice, and is the space where

culture has the potential to be boundaries softened by trust, learning, and the success of women

leaders.

Education is still important for building effective leadership among Saudi women.

According to Al-Shahrani (2016) women “taught and educated to empower her” has been lifted

to managerial and entrepreneurial positions. It is proven in her study that partnerships between

educational institutions and businesses can create pathways for women graduates to leadership

positions. This highlights the importance of leadership training from an early age, accompanied

by mentorship, and career support and guidance integrated into the educational framework for

women to thrive in the competitive job market. Al-Shahrani (2016) further notes that education,

the textbook definition, is a qualification to be possessed, but in reality, an education is an

instrument that must be used to change the mental block that many women possess around their

gender and capability. Institutions that provide education and take leadership initiatives must

develop a multiplier effect system for their institutions to create and train more women leaders

that possess sufficient professional knowledge and the necessary zeal to take up and provide

leadership in many fields and industries. This has been corroborated by Varshney (2019) with

the case that the recent increase in women’s education has, in turn, created a challenge, the case

of unsystematic structural support in the workplace, ripe for women’s advancement. Such

understanding dictates that there is a gap between the formulated mentorship approaches and the

educational system in the context of ensuring the learning translates to gaps in the citied

leadership positions.

Besides educational and institutional actions, women-led mentorship networks can be

crucial for long-term sustainability of empowerment. Varshney (2019) points out that several

women leaders in Saudi Arabia have begun to create formal and informal professional

associations aimed at peer advocacy and peer learning. These women’s activities generate safe

spaces for experience sharing, leadership development, and collective action. From this

perspective, the organized self-help model embodies a movement away from reliance on outside

assistance to self-reliance. According to Sabir and Zenaidi (2019), the Vision 2030 strategy has

intensified the attendance of women in top tier industries and, thus, elevated the number

of women whose leadership presence is able to inspire others to take on leadership roles. These

leaders play dual roles as mentors and as agents of positive cultural change which endorses the

entry of women to leadership positions in areas that have traditionally been dominated by

men. In addition, Hodges (2017) contends that visible women leaders have the symbolic

leadership power that can shatter stereotypes more easily than policy changes because they

provide evidence of real-life competence and success. When women take the initiative to lead

mentorship programs, they institutionalize collective empowerment as a policy,

thereby enhancing the likelihood of sustainable change.

The incorporation of mentorship and leadership programs into principles of corporate

governance is essential to realize systemic inclusivity within organizations. Albahoth (2018)

asserts that companies must integrate mentorship and sponsorship into women’s career

advancement as part of their advancement strategy. Corporate mentorship as a primary form of

support readily available to employees becomes an informal institutional equity mechanism.

From an equity institutional lens, this corporate embedding approach to women’s development

ensures that these plans are measured, financed, and organizationally accountable. Sabir and

Zenaidi (2019) underline in their research that, as part of Vision 2030, organizations in the

private are invited to embrace gender responsive governance frameworks that correlate diversity

with innovation and productivity. This is an emerging understanding that having diverse leaders

is a social responsibility of the organization and a business asset. This is the view endorsed by

Badran (2017) who argues that gender inclusive leaders produce far superior governance as a

result of adding constructive disruptive thinking to the table. Saudi organizations are in a

position to demonstrate mentorship as a governance function which will, in turn, be effective in

normalizing female leadership and enabling the country to meet the goals of national reform.

This integration shifts the issue of gender equality from moralistic abstraction into concrete

economic thinking.

The Participation of Saudi Women in Global Networks. As noted by Badran (2017), there

are international and regional initiatives focused regionally within the International Labour

Organization (ILO) that have promoted the cross-border exchange of knowledge and practices in

leadership by and for women. These programs enable Saudi women to reach out to countries

where they have successfully advanced women into leadership positions and extract applicable

lessons in the Saudi context. Analytically, this kind of exposure enhances the Saudi women’s

perception of what leadership entails beyond the conventional domains of leadership. In another

case, Sabir and Zenaidi (2019) suggest that partnerships of Saudi companies with foreign

companies have made it possible to gain cross-cultural exposure so that the foreign models of

leadership used can be more inclusive. As Varshney (2019) noted, though, there are challenges

that arise from the importation of global leadership models without local contextualization. It can

be very much resisted if it is perceived that they are in conflict culturally with what is truly

Saudi. Hence, it is critical that any mentorship and leadership programs drawn from international

practices be anchored within local field realities. This ensures that the models are aligned with

contemporary Saudi leadership reform, which has to be global in exposure but local in

application to appreciate the depth of leadership transformation needed. Anything else would be

a case of out of the box thinking which is very shallow, and reform that is very cosmetic.

In the context of Saudi Arabia’s reform on gender equality, leadership and mentorship

networks are the primary driving forces behind the movement. Abalkhail (2016) emphasizes the

need to nurture the networks that facilitate career advancement to institutional reform her

attention to fostering women in management. Mentorship, therefore, serves as both a tool for

professional growth and a means of cultural re-education that alters the understanding of power.

According to Hodges (2017), the presence of women in leadership positions removes the strata

of gender differentiation in the ascribed competencies. Concentrated with educational, corporate,

and societal support, these shifts create reinforcing momentum that changes the norms of

organizations. Saudi Arabia’s expansion of women leadership, as argued by Varshney (2019), is

an indicator of a developing social consciousness that considers inclusivity as a source of

national strength. Through the institutionalization of mentorship programs, Saudi Arabia

guarantees that the advancement of women becomes self-sustaining, creating future leaders who

mentor the next generations and cultivate a culture of equality.

Media and Public Advocacy

Advocacy at both the media and grassroots levels has been pivotal in reframing the Saudi

discourse on women’s roles and perception in society and their rights. Over the past ten years,

the traditional and digital media have transformed from passive carriers of state-sponsored

narratives to active venues of social negotiation. “Vision 2030” has seen Saudi media advancing

the narrative of women from passive dependents to agents of national development and progress.

Such progress in the media narratives corresponds to a decline in the rhetoric subservience

policies on the daily life. It has been demonstrated that the media campaigns that celebrate

women’s participation as an act of patriotism reinforce public emotional commitment to the

reforms and the legitimacy of the reforms. However, the effectiveness of such campaigns affects

their scope of coverage; if the campaigns focus on highlighting only women of exceptional

achievement, they portray the notion of equality as super rather than sub. Therefore, advocacy

that aspires to be sustainable should revolve around the media’s normal and constant portrayal of

women’s achievements in different spheres of life.

There has been a significant change in how communication has been transformed in the

digital age, and how it has resulted in an increase in advocacy work, as well as the emergence of

forums for discussion that were not available in the legacy media. Almarzouki (2019) notes that

digital spaces grant Saudi women the ability to evade the control of gatekeepers and foster

entrepreneurial and social relationships. This kind of empowerment, however, in a digital

environment, encourages self-advocacy and self-assertion and, at the same time, entraps women

in the web of digital inequality and disparity in access. Almarzouki (2019) argues that although

there is an emancipating consequence of online entrepreneurship for women, there is still a

divorced technological inequality that reflects the socio-economic structures of dominance and

subordination that vary across contexts. In other words, the outcome of this indicates that online

advocacy needs to, at the very least, incorporate educational components and infrastructural

advocacy that ensure that women across the board, not just those that are privileged, are able to

engage online. Moreover, Varshney (2019) argues that, apart from other social media tools,

digital activism has contributed to exposing inconsistencies in the gender reform rhetoric and

actual barriers, enabling women to express their lived experiences. In this sense, digital media

serve as social mirrors and as social change instruments.

One of the more powerful tools for sanctioning social changes remains state-sponsored

traditional media of television and print journalism even in the most conservative social

formations (Badran 2017). In the Arab region, state-supported media traditionally serves as the

conduit for the state’s reform agenda and the population’s acceptance of it. By covering

women’s roles in the national development, such media do much more than replenish the public

discourse; they also construct the acceptability of the reform in moral and cultural terms.

However, as Badran (2017) explains, top-down messaging loses the power to gain grassroots

support. This means that advocacy campaigns need to achieve a balance between exercising their

institutional power and participatory narratives to avoid losing their authenticity. Sabir and

Zenaidi (2019) support this argument by pointing out that broadcasting women’s reform

narratives in public media has, along with other changes, because of the real changes

experienced in families and communities, dehumanized the reform agenda. Analytically, the

point is that effective advocacy is not monological; it exists in a relationship with the state as

much as it does with the society. When reform narratives resonate with the people, it becomes

easier for them to accept equality as a common good rather than a status they are being ordered

to accept.

The way women professionals are portrayed in media narratives has also helped in

changing the perception of competence and authority. As per Abalkhail (2016), women in

management positions are often the victims of stereotyping that diminishes their authenticity.

Their media representation does help in counteracting such discrimination. When coverage

shows women executives as capable and decision makers, it stretches the horizons of

possibilities to the audience. Similarly, Hodges (2017) argues that media images of women in the

leadership positions “crack the walls of leadership” by feministizing leadership within acceptable

sociocultural parameters. These depictions are meant, first and foremost, to motivate, but also to

educate the public about gendered assumptions of capability. From the perspective of social

education, such images serve as social pedagogy, providing new norms by which to abide to, but

not making them compulsory. However, both authors emphasize that representation should be

inclusive and not just elite women, but women from different social, economic, and regional

contexts. Only then can media advocacy portray the pluralism needed for real social change.

Advocacy and media work engagement deal with behavioral and perception aspects of

industrial. Ali and Syed and Hennekam (2018) assert that the issue of gender equality in Saudi

Arabia pertains to the transformation of the relational norms that govern Professional

interactions. The media discourse in question aids in the transformation of the public imagery of

equality in professional relations. When national media campaigns showcase the interaction of

male and female professionals, they serve as a model for inclusive behaviors to the work

environment. Syed et al. (2018) assert that the changes in culture is only achievable if the

construct of equality is framed as a collective moral obligation as opposed to a demand

singularly for either gender. This is an example of how advocacy works to create norms for

behaviors that reflect cultural values. Alhejji, Ng, Garavan and Carbery (2018) support the

argument by using the example of Saudi Arabian multinational companies that deploy media to

align global diversity policies with local practices. Their work shows how employees come to

terms with traditional values and inclusive behaviors as a result of narrative construction in the

form of internal newsletters and social media. Thus, it is evident that public advocacy and

advocacy done within an organization are two forms of cultural interaction where media is used

to foster the continuous reinterpretation and implementation of equality.

The impact of public advocacy is eloquently captured in Buci et al.’s (2017) work on the

self-representations of female Saudi doctor, how the mediaought to counter the stereotypes about

these women and their perceived skills, and the lack of their media representation concerning the

stereotypes of these women and their skills. The media representation about women in high

authority positions is a given counterargument as these representations do in fact, change the

narratives regarding the level of competence and commitment that she is able to portray Buci et

al (2017) portray such representations as more than recognition. Such representations are a form

of intervention that intricate cultural construction concerning gender parameters. The media, as

sensors of cultural construction, as Buci et al. (2017) point out, make these women remarkable

exemplars in their constructions of a counter discourse to the traditional notion that the

‘masculine domain’ is the domain of expertise. Additionally, advocacy projects crafted by public

outreach such as digital storytelling are designed to amplify the voices of women of lower rank

in hospitals and universities, as Buci et al (2017) describes. Such advocacy projects provide the

blueprint on how professional institutions can engage in intergrade reform on a national level by

changing their communication for equity.

Integrated media pedagogy represents another domain of intervention for influencing

culture. Al-Shahrani (2016) points out that educational media has the ability to shape social

perception of gender by incorporating messages of gender equity into the public educational

framework. When documentaries, educational programs, or televised lectures focus on the

intellectual contributions of women, they, in turn, foster women scholarship and ambition. This

proactive form of advocacy has a cumulative effect in shaping the attitudes of successive

generations towards equity and opportunity. Al-Shahrani (2016) goes on to suggest that

collaboration between educational organizations and the media can help shift the public

conversation and thereby enhance the impact of the classroom. This fusion of pedagogy and

social communication spans the chasm between esoteric learning and the domain of culture. It

indicates that the impact of learning is greatest where the content, practice, and discourse involve

gender equity in their teaching and learning. Thus, educational media, in this case, does not

merely depict social change, but engages in its construction by amplifying the teaching of

inclusivity as a societal value.

At the same time, the digital storytelling of Saudi women entrepreneurs has expanded the

self-representation and social influence. According to Almarzouki (2019), Saudi women

entrepreneurs use the internet to communicate business achievements and personal stories that

defy the gendered stereotypes. These stories ascend the gendered hierarchy by depicting women

as innovators and entrepreneurs, rather than passive recipients of reform. From the perspective of

self-representation, these self-authored digital narratives subvert the advocacy paradigm by

decentralizing representative advocacy from the institutions to the individuals. Nonetheless,

Almarzouki (2019) also points out the lack of equitable distribution of advocacy resources which

may reproduce the inequality of invisibility. To remedy this, there ought to be partnerships

between the government and private institutions to promote advocacy of women at all levels.

Digital disempowerment happens to be one of the most dominant barriers for women having the

resources to record cultural change through digital means. Hence, the social media narratives of

women are paradoxically the evidence and the agents of change in the emerging gender

awareness in Saudi Arabia.

Just as public advocacy faces hurdles such as cultural change and the push-back that

often follows. Varshney (2019) claims that notwithstanding formal structural changes, gender

equity continues to be regarded by many as a threat to the moral social framework. Hence, media

becomes a cultural legitimacy front where images about advancement and stagnation do battle.

Advocacy, in such contexts, is to engage dissent rather than to suppress it. Advocacy must seek

to present the notion of equal rights and opportunities as symbols of culture and religion, and not

a contradiction. For instance, Sabir and Zenaidi (2019) posit that the success of the Vision 2030

communications rests on the ability to synthesize women empowerment with national pride and

belief, thus making the reform patriotic and not divisive. Intellectually, the blend of religion,

culture, and progress framed in the context of such a communication strategy shifts the focus

from equality being an individual right to a collective moral advancement. This is because by

placing women’s participation in the context of the overall strategy to advance modernization in

Saudi Arabia, media advocacy can change what would have been resistance into supportive

advocacy based on a common identity.

Advocating for the role of men in the media is worth considering, especially since

inclusive stories need representation. Al-Asfour, Tlaiss, Khan, and Rajasekar (2017) note the

necessity for men to be engaged as partners in reform as repeating the gender equity

conversation is likely cultural backsliding. Their studies show that men’s involvement in

advocacy programs is defensive and re-frames advocacy for equality as mutual gain not zero-

sum competition. This understanding in this case suggests that media representation of

supporting men can enable collaboration and remove the view that gender reform is divisive.

Hodges (2017) similarly notes that the leadership discourse that positions men as supportive

allies encourages the emergence of organizational cultures that appreciate the advancement of

women as a gain for all. By prioritizing such media narratives about joint achievements, such as

men mentoring women leaders and families supporting women education, the definitions of

masculinity are redefined. Hence, such advocacy scaffolds social integration and cohesion in

support of equity.

From a structural perspective, advocacy activities should complement institutional

changes for lasting impact. Alhejji et al. (2018) argue that internal communication strategies in

multinational and local companies can help close the “informal distance” that exists between the

global ideals of diversity and the local culture. Within the rubric of internal and external

communication, organizations communicate the messages of equity and equality that they

publicly endorse on a daily basis. This communication link, in turn, advocacy is able to go

beyond performative posturing, and advocacy integration is able to set a clear boundary between

what needs to be done and what is being done. This is analytically clear that any proposals aimed

at reforming media advocacy need to be tailored to the described gap between actions and

policies being put in place. Another dimension to media advocacy is described by Syed et al.

(2018), who note that, equality should be reframed as an interactional a norm, that is, a standard

that is expected to be practiced daily. Hence, the ability of media advocacy is defined by the

ability to shape not only cognition, but also how individuals interact with each other at

professional and societal levels. Organizations, through embedding reform communication

frameworks in institutional communication, directly shape the configuration of collective

consciousness within the country.

Although the progress of Saudi women in the media world represents a new epoch of

visibility, the issue of sustainment is still paramount. Albahoth (2018) states that media

representation ought to be accompanied by actionable strategies that convert representation into

practices. The inability to provide employment, entrepreneurial, and leadership opportunities risk

progress to be counterproductive. Albahoth (2018) proposes that vocational and career media-

linked programs can strengthen media advocacy by positing itself as a primary implementer.

From the perspective of advocacy, the connection between narrative construction and structural

change is that media involvement is not limited to raising an issue, but translating the message

into action. When resources accompany narratives of empowerment, advocacy F legislates

inspiration. So, the more media reforms can synthesize evidence based policy and action, the

more effective it will be in the domains of visibility and availability to Saudi women across the

domain.

Social advocacy, alongside the media, both illustrates and promotes social change. They

show how far the values of reform and modernity has come to frame daily conversations and

how those values are, in turn, being constructed. Badran (2017) describes this type of give and

take as the heart of the modernizing process of the Arabs: it is not the announcement of policies

that change societies, it is the telling and the believing of new narratives. This principle is well

illustrated in the case of Saudi Arabia where, in and through films, advertising, social media, and

news, the concept of female empowerment is constantly being constructed, contested, and

adopted. The combination of digital regulation and institutional control ensures that change takes

place from both the top and the bottom. New policies are not articulated in isolation, and there is

an active bottom-up response that fuels the top-down policies. The public and the media are, in

this case, the cultural motors of Vision 2030, converting abstract strategies into day-to-day

experiences, turning policy into practice. Their effectiveness will decide the future of gender

social ethics: will they remain rhetorical, or will they actually be practiced?

Monitoring and Policy Sustainability

To achieve long-term sustainability of gender equality reforms in Saudi Arabia, there is a

need to establish monitoring frameworks, adaptive policymaking, and evaluation frameworks.

While Vision 2030 is ambitious and hopes to achieve inclusivity, its success will largely depend

on the ability to evaluate, interpret, and make changes to the data over time. According to Sabir

and Zenaidi (2019), the absence of performance indicators is a major problem which makes it

very difficult to analyze the social consequences of the policy changes which have provided

women with new opportunities to work. This example illustrates the need for systems which

assess gender relations qualitatively, rather than the more standard approaches of quantitative

evaluation. Sustainability goes beyond the policy on paper, and is determined by the ability of

the policy to self-assess and recalibrate. Institutions which primitive reflective monitoring

transform equality as a one-off goal into an ongoing process of learning and improvement.

For gender reforms to fully capture their complexity, monitoring mechanisms need to

include both macro outcomes and micro level outcomes. Indicating that, as Badran (2017) points,

in Arab societies, sustainable gender policies must correlate institutional advancement with

social change. This means that metrics need to go beyond measuring women’s participation in

the labor market to include cultural and structural changes at the workplace, leadership access,

equity perception, and other dominance frameworks. Badran (2017) also argues that the lack of

data transparency inhibits accountability and the collective assessment of reform processes by

policymakers, scholars, and the public. From an analytic perspective, this accountability

enhances public perception and safeguards that gender equality is a social issue to pursue, not the

concern of a few elites. Badran (2017) says, in this case, public policy documents such as annual

reports on gender equity can establish mechanisms to receive feedback on ongoing policy

reforms. Hence, the collection, analysis, and dissemination of gender disaggregated data is both

an administrative and a democratic form of governance.

The sustainability of any policy hinges on more than the collection of data. It also

requires the presence of institutional mechanisms which are able to interpret the data, and act on

the evidence sufficient to warrant action. Syed, Ali and Hennekam (2018) argue that the issue of

gender equality is Saudi Arabia is more of a process that is socially constructed than one which

has a policy that is militaristically enforced. This suggests that the phenomenon of monitoring

needs to look at behavioral and cultural aspects which numbers do not capture. For instance,

workplace studies on gender relations that focus on relational equity, mentorship, and inclusive

communication provide a picture of changing gender dynamics. This approach shifts the focus to

cultural compliance, with equality no longer a procedural obligation but a normative principle an

organization operates with. Alhejji, Ng, Garavan and Carbery (2018) further built on this

position by pointing out the need to integrate global diversity frameworks with local cultural

realities. Their studies of Saudi Arabia based multinational corporations showed that evaluation

frameworks only work when culturally relevant criteria are included. This underscores the point

that for monitoring to be genuine, it has to make the correct balance between universal

benchmarks, and context specific elements to be appropriately accepted and legitimatized.

The ability of a policy to last over a long period of time changes with the concept of

adaptive feedback loops which are able to change the policy if there are new unresolved issues.

Varshney (2019) highlights that the attempts at fostering gender inclusiveness in Saudi Arabia is

proving to be both a progressive and contradictory, and there are new unresolved issues that the

policy has to continuously solve. Policies that are rigid will be at a risk of becoming outdated if

there is no change to the prevailing socio cultural and economic conditions. From a practical

perspective, adaptive policymaking reformulates the policy into a set of actions which are

integrated to respond to the dynamics of society. Al-Asfour, Tlaiss, Khan and Rajasekar (2017)

support this concept and argue that the policy review strategies should be aggressive in order to

remove the limits to the advancement of women in the workplace. There is a notion that lack of

declining approaches will adjust to address biases that were not intended. Through implementing

policy review that is repeated and systematic, Saudi organizations will be able to make sure that

the changes that are made to banks are changes which are evolutionarily and socially relevant.

Monitoring policy implementation with technology is a creative idea and a new horizon

in sustaining gender policy reforms. According to Almarzouki’s study (2019), technology can

aid in improving gender initiatives in reporting and accountability through digital and analytical

tools. Almarzouki’s study showed that digital tools can track in real-time women’s participation

in entrepreneurship and employment which assists policymakers in gap and success analysis

quickly. From this analysis, it can be concluded that technology can be considered a diagnosis

and treatment tool. It also, however, reveals gaps in women’s economic and sociopolitical

participation and describes what needs to be done. Almarzouki (2019) warned, however, that

digital divide could deepen existing inequalities if monitoring systems are inequitable. This

brings in the argument that for a framework to evaluate the experiences women have the world

over coming from diverse economic and social backgrounds, there needs to be a degree of

sustainable digital equity. Once technology is no longer passive and is participatory and

accessible, having the monitoring of policy implementation becomes a shared responsibility.

On the very contextual side of the global report, the ever-changing professional landscape

requires the examination of gender composition policies, as the pace of change indicates. Baqi et

al. (2017) reveals that there is an institutional culture that is usually behind the formal policy

culture, which creates a gap within the organizational rhetoric and the employees’ reality. This is

the reason why the study of ‘Saudi Women Doctors’ shows that workplace equality is a function

of the formal evaluation of professional support systems and the informal power structures that

surround them. This means that there is an analytic aspect that tells us that ‘sustainability’ cannot

only depend on ‘law’ and has to be accompanied by ‘organizational learning’ on a more strategic

level. Consequently, periodic internal assessments, ‘employee participation’ surveys, and

‘equity’ scorecards serve as accountability measures to bridge the gap between institutional

practice and national reform. Moreover, Baqi et al. (2017) proposes that inclusionary

‘management’ leadership training programs also maintains the institutional behavioral pattern on

which equality is integrated sustainably. All these is to show that the policy practices and the

mechanisms used should be deeply integrated to promote long term ‘sustainability’ to be

achieved.

Society is also expected to change as a result of this policy, which makes the policy

flexible and adaptable. Al-Shahrani eloquently argues that beside the given criteria of attending a

classroom, qualitative aspects of education, academic leadership at the school, and the graduates’

employment should also be considered in the equality of education at all levels and particularly

in the attending of the classroom. This is a reflection of the dual nature of the educational policy

which is to divide and to construct. Those measures of academic achievement which go beyond

the mere accessibility to education and which expand the prevailing paradigm of development,

encompass the projection of the society’s dreams and aspirations. In their own way, Sabir and

Zenaidi also point out that in the context of Vision 2030, it is necessary to treat educational

reform as a tool for increasing women’s participation in the workforce. “Closing the gap”

between education and employment is a critical part of how the success of the reform is

perceived. This form of evaluation reinforces the idea that development has to be achieved

within one boundary, avoiding fragmentation of the framework of social progress.

Holding leaders accountable for their actions is yet another pillar for policy continuity.

As noted by Hodges (2017), the presence of women in leadership positions is both an outcome

and an indicator of sustainable equality. Decision-making women achieve the institutionalization

of inclusiveness by the governance and policy control mechanisms. From an analytical

perspective, the assertion reinforces the idea that the absence of leadership diversity is a self-

perpetuating barrier to progress. According to Abalkhail (2016), women leaders advocate for

fairness-centered evaluation criteria in governance in order to embed participatory decision-

making. Such approaches enhance the ethical boundaries of institutional decision-making by

fostering the integrity of the system. Furthermore, organizations that publicly provide gender-

disaggregated outcomes of governance control by women portray the sign of accountability and

model transparency to their societies. Leadership accountability becomes both a standard and a

practice of the policy continuity for sustaining equality as an institutional value, and not a token.

In order to maintain a reform, it is important to have all three sectors, government,

private, and civil, collaborate to coordinate monitoring activities. Badran (2017) states that,

partnerships among public agencies, academic and research institutions, and non-government

organizations facilitate the construction and use of evaluative frameworks for policy and

program assessment. This type of collaboration improves the uniformity of the reporting

practices and the fragmentation of the data standards. From a monitoring perspective, this kind of

collaborative analysis improves systemic coherence and allows for the scaling of reforms across

industries and geography. Alhejji et al. (2018) explain that multinational corporations are crucial

in this process as they assimilate global standards to the local policy frameworks. Corporations

are also able to align their diversity measurements with the national metrics, which allows them

to be part of a simplified accountability framework. It is the monitoring systems of these

corporations that help ensure that all policies and practices are focused on promoting gender

equality. Sustainability, in this case, is the interdependence of the various actors, each of which

is a component that strengthens the whole system, which is evaluated and reported in a balanced

manner.

All economic and entrepreneurial policies should be analyzed for their inclusivity impact.

Albahoth (2018) emphasizes that sustainability is determined by whether women are

economically empowered and not just temporarily engaged. Thus, monitoring should focus on

longitudinal proxies, such as income, self-employment, and representation in decision-making.

This approach distinguishes cosmetic from profound change. Almarzouki (2019) equally notes

that entrepreneurial reforms are successful when social dimensions, such as confidence,

networks, and visibility, are integrated into the evaluation. This approach encourages

policymakers to use an evidence-based approach to determine whether economic reforms

actually change gendered relations of power. This evidence, in turn, should underpin the flexible

funding approaches that support organizations that show impact in women’s empowerment. This

aligns the policy funding with the policy outcome of sustainability.

To achieve long term impact, accountability mechanisms integrated with monitoring

capabilities sustain a culture of responsibility beyond the confines of institutions. In support,

Syed et al. (2018) contend that gender equality is only self-sustaining once internalized social

relationships predicated on respect and mutual responsibility are instituted. This social relational

framework implies that the absence of constant reinforcement is in fact, sustainable reform

resulting from collective ownership of the principles of equality. This fundamentally shifts the

nature of monitoring from a bureaucratic function to a cultural act of reflection and dialogue. In

this regard, Varshney (2019) adds that public engagement, forums, media dialogue, and civic

education, ensures that citizens actively participate in the assessment of the outcomes of the

reform. When assessment is participatory, the potential for sustainability extends beyond

institutions to the societal and cultural ethos. Thus, monitoring becomes a civic act that is

continually renewed in the public sphere.

The gender policies in Saudi Arabia can be self-sustaining only if evaluation, alteration,

and attribution of responsibility are continuous and interconnected (Hodges, 2017; Sabir and

Zenaidi, 2019). Trust in institutions and social legitimacy are important for progress. Change can

only be achieved if there are governance ecosystems; adaptive policies, COM inclusive

leadership, and transparency metrics. Sustainability, theoretically, is sustained on an unwavering

equality that can survive transformations in the political, social, and economic worlds. Feedback

systems, techno Public Order and sustainable social and Vision 2030 reform agenda are cross-

referenced. In other words, monitoring is custodianship of policy, and so policy is administered

where gender policy is stagnated. Untapped gender equality policy other than the delay

projection in the years to come will crosscut the developmental and moral compass of the nation.

In other words, the monitoring policy will be the peak of the policy, providing custodianship for

the policy.

Conclusion

In conclusion, based on the aforementioned study results, this article advocates for an

inclusive approach to gender discrimination and laments ongoing gaps despite social and

economic improvements. The interrelationship of myriads of problems requires an integrative

approach that is complex by nature and, at the same time, has been formed in cultural, social, and

historical paradigms. However, traditional strategies, including reforms in the law and policies

designed for education, have failed because they are culturally off-base, ill-enforced, and

strongly rooted. The proposed strategy is for cultural transformation, the improvement of laws,

economic emancipation, and educational measures. So, government bodies, private companies,

educational institutions, and the media are involved. International organizations and religious

leaders' guidance are used to form women's advocacy partnerships with corporate leaders.

Respect and equality are promoted through policy advocacy, corporate links, educational efforts,

and training. Implementation includes the government task force, community involvement,

partnerships among educators, media consultations, and the M&E yearly report. This sweeping

intervention targets to eliminate gender inequality at its core level, facilitating societal change

that supports the mission of Vision 2030 because Saudi Arabia should now be seen as a

forerunner in gender-based equality initiatives worldwide.

References

Abalkhail, J. M. (2016). Women in management in Saudi Arabia. In Women in Management

Worldwide (pp. 341-356). Gower.

Al-Asfour, A., Tlaiss, H. A., Khan, S. A., & Rajasekar, J. (2017). Saudi women’s work

challenges and barriers to career advancement. Career Development International, 22(2),

184-199.

Albahoth, W. (2018). Enhancing career choices and opportunities for Saudi women.

Aldossari, M., & Calvard, T. (2021). The politics and ethics of resistance, feminism and gender

equality in Saudi Arabian organizations. Journal of Business Ethics, 1-18.

Alghamdi, N. A., Dunn, K., Cairns, D., & Melville, C. A. (2023). A Review of Policy Analysis:

Gender Equality in Saudi Arabia’s Mental Health Policy. International Neuropsychiatric

Disease Journal, 20(3), 21-34.

Alhejji, H., Ng, E. S., Garavan, T., & Carbery, R. (2018). The impact of formal and informal

distance on gender equality approaches: the case of a British MNC in Saudi

Arabia. Thunderbird International Business Review, 60(2), 147-159.

Almarzouki, R. A. (2019). Investigating the influence of technology on Saudi women

entrepreneurs overcoming gender discrimination (Doctoral dissertation, University of

Reading).

Almathami, R., Khoo, C., & Yang, E. C. L. (2021). Enablers for empowerment: Saudi women’s

employment in the events sector. Tourism Recreation Research, 1-14.

Al-Nasrallah, W. (2023). The decade long story of gender equality and female empowerment: a

case study of corporate disclosures in Saudi Arabia. Sustainability Accounting,

Management and Policy Journal, 14(1), 216-241.

Al-Shahrani, F. (2016). Strategies to empower Saudi women’s educational attainment and

work. International Journal of Social Work and Human Services Practice Horizon

Research, 4, 1-6.

Badran, M. F. (2017). Achieving gender equality in the Arab region amidst the changing world

of work. International Labor Organization (ILO) Geneva.

Baqi, S., Albalbeesi, A., Iftikhar, S., Baig-Ansari, N., Alanazi, M., & Alanazi, A. (2017).

Perceptions of gender equality, work environment, support and social issues for women

doctors at a university hospital in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. PloS one, 12(10),

e0186896.

Bhatti, M. A. (2023). Does Gender Inequality Lead to Increased Burnout in Female Healthcare

Workers in Saudi Arabia? Linking Managerial Role and Internal Relationship with

Reduced Burnout. American Journal of Health Behavior, 47(4), 668-680.

Galloway, A. H. (2020). Equality in Saudi Arabia workforce. Electronic Interdisciplinary

Miscellaneous Journal, 6, 1-28.

Hodges, J. (2017). Cracking the walls of leadership: women in Saudi Arabia. Gender in

management: an international journal, 32(1), 34-46.

Nadia, Y., & Abdulmohsen, D. (2021). Improving higher education system in Saudi Arabia:

ethnographic methods in contemporary perspective for women education. Review of

International Geographical Education Online, 11(10), 487.

Sabir, A., & Zenaidi, K. (2019). Saudi Arabia reforms: the changing face of Saudi women at

workplace with a vision of 2030. American Journal of Management Science and

Engineering, 4(1), 1-7.

Syed, J., Ali, F., & Hennekam, S. (2018). Gender equality in employment in Saudi Arabia: a

relational perspective. Career Development International, 23(2), 163-177.

Tlaiss, H. A., & Al Waqfi, M. (2022). Human resource managers advancing the careers of

women in Saudi Arabia: caught between a rock and a hard place. The International

Journal of Human Resource Management, 33(9), 1812-1847.

Varshney, D. (2019). The strides of the Saudi female workforce: Overcoming constraints and

contradictions in transition. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 20(2), 359-372.

Students also viewed