Riyadh: In a significant move towards gender equality, the Governor of Yanbu, Saad bin Marzouq Al-Suhaimi, handed the certificates of driving licenses to 11 Saudi Arabian women in the governorate, for the first time in the Kingdom’s history.
They received their driving license after they passed the theoretical and practical training program that was held at the Fishermen’s Cooperative Society in Yanbu.
The training program is one of the objectives of the Vision 2030 fisherman program, which aims to enable Saudi women to join and integrate into the marine business, which aims to localize the marine tourism professions.
The ceremony was held at the Yanbu Cooperative Society for Fishermen, in the presence of the Assistant Commander of the Border Guard Sector in Yanbu Col. Abdullah Al-Balawi, Deputy Governor of Yanbu Faisal Al-Mutairi, and President of the Cooperative Society for Fishermen in Yanbu Hamed Al-Juhani.
It is noteworthy that the women passed all the theoretical and practical tests that were carried out by the Border Guard Command in the Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah region, under the supervision of female military cadres trained to carry out such tests.
60 women in fishing
It is noteworthy that the Saudi National Fisheries Development Program announced in August that 60 women had been accepted into a project to qualify for the fishing profession for the first time in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi women who were accepted into the project will be trained in the “Holoul” track, which specializes in sales and marketing of fish products, by experts and specialists in the field for the first time. The initiative aims to train and qualify Saudi youth for the fishing profession.
It is worth noting that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in recent years has instituted reforms to enhance women’s participation in economic development, including unifying the retirement age for both sexes, and working on eliminating gender discrimination in terms of wages, job type, field, and working hours.
The past few years have witnessed significant growth in the rate of Saudi women’s participation in the labor market.
Three years ago, the participation rate of Saudi women was 20.5 percent, then it rose rapidly to 33.6 percent in the first quarter of 2022.
