Ladies in Saudi Arabia
About 800,700 ladies in Saudi Arabia joined higher learning institutions in as per a report provided by the Ministry of Education statistics in 2018. Of this group, roughly 212,000 were enrolled in courses on arts and humanity while 195, 780 others joined courses on business administration and law. The number of women who joined the education courses was approximately 92,000, as this study reports. The explanation for the large number of women attending courses in this field is that this is the most appropriate and more accessible alternative courses for girls in Saudi Arabia when they complete secondary education, particularly in the field of study and lack of engineering courses. The courses and other research related areas. Students who complete their courses in the above-mentioned fields have reportedly been shown to become teachers.
Nevertheless, there was a significant enrollment of girls in medical and health-related subjects, especially in nursing. According to statistics, about 55.5 per cent of girls have been registered to attend medical and nursing courses, which are mostly influenced by the culture of people and career choices of women. For a long time, medical courses, especially in the field of nursing, have been seen as an occupation ideally suited to women. Many of these have been contributing to the roles that nurses perform in healthcare, such as always taking care of the patient and ensuring that the medical equipment used on the patient is safe. Because of this idea, the courses are seen as more suitable for women and hence the large enrollment. On the other hand, only about 4.7 percent of girls from all the enrolment made in higher education were able to join engineering courses which are also contributed by the fact that only a few schools in Saudi Arabia are willing to open up opportunities for girls to enroll for courses in this field (Ministry of Education, 2020)
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However, due to its tremendous market opportunities and a resource for gender segregation, there has been an interesting trend, particularly in the area of business and administration, law, particularly for Saudi Arabia girls. For example, gender discrimination policies in this country require women to work on computers at home or even allow them to work with men in separate offices. Women’s insignificant representation in leadership roles is a
global challenge which affects most countries around the world.
A U.S. study has shown that only about Twenty-three per cent of higher-educated women perform leadership positions. Moreover, the number of women in these higher institutions who perform teaching positions does not exceed 43 percent. The number of women pursuing professorship is still small, with a figure of about 26.81 per cent (Cook, 2012). Despite the massive efforts to help girl leadership in institutions of higher education, growth and response remain significantly low. The main contributing factor to this expanded divide is the disparity between higher qualified men and women and academic ranks such as professorship. Men have higher ranks relative to women who have marginalized women in leadership at these organizations (Schneider et al., 2011). Another contributing factor is the unequal distribution of female and male students in public and private schools, showing that male students dominate (Madsen, 2012). More research carried out in European countries found that women are poorly placed in leadership positions in higher institutions. Approximately 16.5% of teaching positions in higher institutions are female, while Australia still accounts for a 19% figure. Consequently, the greater proportion is held by men (Pyke, 2013; Morley, 2013).
In other countries such as the Middle East and North African, women have even lower leadership positions in higher institutions with a recorded margin of about 3.2 per cent (Pande & Ford, 2011; Patel & Buiting, 2013). Representation of women in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates was stated to be less than 1%. In an effort to justify the entire issue of women under-representation when it comes to leadership roles, a variety of metaphorical terms, such as the concept of the glass ceiling, have been introduced (Abalkhail, 2017). Organizational and macro-level factors are the key factors that hinder career development for women, according to studies within the Arab context. In this situation, women in their leadership line have to face major barriers to leadership. Education books have long sought to address gender gap issues. According to Becky (2004), low women’s representation in sectors such as education, gender, and ethnicity has far-reaching effects on growing women’s trust in decision-making when compared with men. For example, women living in Saudi Arabia have been exposed to technological, organizational, cultural empowerment and self-imposed challenges that make it difficult for women to engage in decision-making. Without self-confidence, assertiveness and determination, then women are threatened to engage effectively in decision-making.