Alfarran, Abeer (2016) Increasing women's labour market participation in Saudi Arabia: the role of government employment policy and multinational corporations. PhD thesis, Victoria University.

Abstract

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has one of the world's lowest women's labour force participation rates, a multi-faceted problem on which the government spends a significant proportions of its budget. New to higher education, women nevertheless dominate undergraduate studies in the Saudi Arabia and undertake international scholarships. The Saudi government is also actively supporting Saudis, women particularly, entry into the private sector through employer penalties and incentives, the Nitaqat policy. Despite these efforts,35 per cent of women in the labour force remain unemployed and the majority have university degrees. Evidence suggests that there are considerable barriers to Nitaqat initiatives in the form of legal restrictions on women‟s employment, cultural norms, economic influence and relevant skills. Therefore, this study aims to identify, explore and analyse the political, economic, legal, social and cultural factors that impact on Saudi women's low labour force participation rate, particularly in the multinational sector.

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