Women's rights in Saudi Arabia are heavily affected by Islamic and local traditions of the Arabian Peninsula. Wahhabism, the official version of Sunni Islam in Saudi Arabia, as well as traditions of the Arabian Peninsula and national and local laws all impact women's societal roles in Saudi Arabia.
Women in Saudi Arabia have experienced many legal reforms since 2017, after facing fundamentalist Sahwa dominance for decades. However, according to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, Saudi women are still discriminated against in terms to marriage, family, and divorce despite the reforms, and the Saudi government continues to target and repress women's rights activists and movements. Prominent feminist campaigns include the Women to Drive Movement and the anti male-guardianship campaign, which have led to significant advances in women's rights.
Rankings The World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2025 ranked Saudi Arabia as number 132 out of 146 countries, a significant drop if compared to previous years. However, in the World Bank's 2021 Women, Business, and the Law index, Saudi Arabia scored 80 out of 100, an above-average global score. The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) elected Saudi Arabia to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women for 2018 to 2022, a move that was widely criticized internationally. According to the World Bank, Saudi Arabia has been making significant improvements to women's working conditions since 2017, addressing issues of mobility, sexual harassment, pensions, and workplace rights including employment discrimination protection.
Civil rights
Representation in government Women's representation in Saudi Arabia's government has gradually evolved, marking a notable shift in political inclusion amid broader social reforms. In 2009, Norah al-Fayez became the first female minister, serving as the Deputy Minister of Education for Girls’ Affairs from 2009 until 2015. In January 2013, King Abdullah issued a royal decree mandating that 20% of the 150-member Shura Council be women. He then appointed 30 female members to satisfy the requirement.
In 2019, Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud was appointed as the Saudi ambassador to the US, becoming the first female envoy in the Kingdom's history. Since then, Saudi Arabia has appointed several women to ambassadorial roles. In October 2020, Amal bint Yahya al‑Moallimi became the second Saudi female ambassador, appointed to Norway and later accredited to Canada. This was followed in April 2021 by the appointment of Inas bint Ahmed al‑Shahwan as Ambassador to Sweden and Iceland.
In January 2023, two more female diplomats were sworn in: Haifa al‑Jadea was appointed as Ambassador and Head of Mission to the European Union and EAEC, while Nisreen bint Hamad al‑Shibel became Ambassador to Finland. That same year, Princess Haifa bint Abdulaziz Al‑Mogrin, previously Saudi Arabia's Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, was appointed Ambassador to Spain.
Freedom of movement
In September 2017, after Mohammed bin Salman was named as Crown Prince, a royal decree was issued allowing women to drive, lifting the decades-old ban. The next month, women were allowed into sports stadiums.
2019 saw significant progress on women's rights in the country, with the removal of some restrictions related to the male guardianship system, granting women over 21 the right to apply for passports, and to travel and work without permission, as well as allowing women over 18 to register births, deaths, marriages, and divorces. As well as ending gender segregation in restaurants, restrictions on some jobs were lifted, such as allowing women to serve in the armed forces.
Education
In 2021, female literacy was estimated at 93%, not far behind that of men. The 2021 data stands in stark contrast to that of 1970, when only 2% of women and 15% of men were literate. More women receive secondary and tertiary education than men; 56% of all university graduates in Saudi Arabia were women as of 2019, and in 2008, 50% of working women had a college education, compared to 16% of working men. As of 2019, Saudi women make up 34.4% of the native work force of Saudi Arabia. The proportion of Saudi women graduating from universities is higher than in Western countries.
One of Saudi Arabia's official educational policies is to promote "belief in the one God, Islam as the way of life, and Muhammad as God's Messenger." Official policy particularly emphasizes religion in the education of girls: "The purpose of educating a girl is to bring her up in a proper Islamic way so as to perform her duty in life, be an ideal and successful housewife and a good mother, ready to do things which suit her nature such as teaching, nursing and medical treatment." The policy also specifies "women's right[s] to obtain suitable education on equal footing with men in light of Islamic laws." Saudi women often specify education as the most important area for women's rights reform.
Saudi Arabia is the home of Princess Nourah Bint Abdul Rahman University, the world's largest women-only university. Religious beliefs about gender roles and the perception that education is more relevant for men has resulted in fewer educational opportunities for women. The tradition of sex segregation in professional life is used to justify restricting women's fields of study. Traditionally, women have been excluded from fields such as engineering, pharmacy, architecture, and law. This has changed slightly in recent years; in 2021, nearly 60% of all Saudi university students were female. Some fields, such as law and pharmacy, are beginning to open up for women. Though Saudi women can also study any subject they wish while abroad, the customs of male guardianship and purdah curtail this. In 1992, three times as many men studied abroad on government scholarships, although the ratio had been near 50% in the early 1980s.
Business and property
There are certain limitations on businesswomen in Saudi Arabia. Although now able to drive motor vehicles, a woman still cannot swear for herself in a court of law; a man has to swear for her. However, as part of the Saudi 2030 Vision, women have recently been encouraged to buy and own houses, either with partners or independently. This is part of Saudi Arabia's plan to increase Saudi ownership of houses to 70% by 2030. According to a World Bank study titled "Women, Business and the Law 2020," which tracks how laws affect women in 190 economies, Saudi Arabia's economy scored 70.6 points out of 100, a dramatic increase from its previous score of 31.8 points. "2019 was a year of 'groundbreaking' reforms that allowed women greater economic opportunity in Saudi Arabia, according to the study's findings," said an Al Arabiya article on the report.
Sport
Saudi Arabia was one of the few countries in the 2008 Olympics without a female delegation, although it does have female athletes.
In June 2012, the Saudi Arabian Embassy in London announced that female athletes would compete in the Olympics in 2012 in London, England, for the first time. Saudi blogger Eman al-Nafjan commented that as of 2012, Saudi girls are prevented from sports education at school, and that Saudi women have very little access to sports facilities. She also said that the two Saudi women who participated in the 2012 Olympics, runner Sarah Attar (who grew up in the United States) and judoka Wojdan Shaherkani, attracted both criticism and support on Twitter; and that Jasmine Alkhaldi, a Filipino swimmer born to a Saudi father, was widely supported by the online Saudi community.
In 2013, the Saudi government sanctioned sports for girls in private schools for the first time.
By 2017, some restrictions in Saudi Arabia started to change. Mohammed bin Salman declared that by 2018, women would be allowed into sports stadiums. In September 2017, women were allowed to enter King Fahd Stadium for the first time for a celebration commemorating the Kingdom's 87th anniversary. They were seated in a specific section for families. Though welcomed by many, the move drew backlash from conservatives holding on to the country's strict gender segregation rules.
When WWE began holding televised events in Saudi Arabia in 2018, the company initially announced that female wrestlers would not be allowed to participate. On October 30, 2019, the promotion announced that Lacey Evans and Natalya would take part in the country's first professional wrestling match involving women at that year's edition of WWE Crown Jewel. However, both wrestlers had to substitute their usual revealing attire for bodysuits that covered their arms and legs.
Women's football in Saudi Arabia made great strides in 2022, with the women's national team competing in, and winning, their first international match by the score of 2–0 against Seychelles. Later that year in December, Saudi Arabia made a bid to host the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup. Monika Staab, the manager of the Saudi Arabian women's national team, said: "This is an opportunity to bring the tournament to life, inspire a generation, and turbo-charge the continued growth of women's football."
Women's entrepreneurship on the rise Vision 2030 is introducing women to new levels of leadership and economic empowerment. In Saudi Arabia, women entrepreneurs are now managing more small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The number of female entrepreneurs has increased more than 35% over the last decade in 2017.
Alhanoof Alzahrani, the co‑founder of Saudi Arabia's first crowdfunding company, "Scopeer," expressed her excitement and optimism about greater opportunities for Saudi women in business. She said: “Amid the economic diversification and push for women's empowerment, opportunities are everywhere. You just must be creative and willing to take risks.” Alhanoof added that the technology sector in Saudi Arabia will offer pockets of opportunity for local and foreign investors: “The country's push for digitalization is expected to generate demand for technology talents, as well as service providers in supporting technology development. We are more than happy to establish collaboration with Hong Kong, which is known to be a technology and innovation hub in Asia.”
Several initiatives and programs have been launched in the country to promote and support entrepreneurship among young Saudi women. The General Authority of Small and Medium Enterprises (Monshaat), has introduced a loan guarantee program and regulation to reduce the administrative burden on SMEs. Workshops and training programs are also offered under the Badir Technology Incubators and Accelerators Program to promote an entrepreneurial culture among women university students.
Employment According to the Saudi General Authority for Statistics, Saudi women constitute 33.2% of the native workforce as of 2020. The rate of participation has grown from 14% in 1990 to 33.2% in 2020. Between 2018 and 2020, the proportion of women in the native workforce increased from 20.2% to 33.2%. In February 2019, a report was released indicating that 48% of Saudi nationals working in the retail sector were women.
Some critics complain that women's skills are not being effectively used, since women make up 70% of students in Saudi institutes of higher education. Some jobs taken by women in almost every other country are reserved for men in Saudi Arabia. For example, the Saudi delegation to the United Nations International Women's Year conference in Mexico City in 1975 and the Decade for Women conference in Nairobi in 1985 were made up entirely of men. Geraldine Brooks wrote, "Even jobs directly concerned with women's affairs were held by men."
Historically, women's employment has been restricted under Saudi law and culture. In 2006, the Labor Minister Dr. Ghazi Al-Qusaibi said: