Saudi Arabia’s Aseel al-Hamad Drives F1 Car ahead of French Grand Prix Monday, 25 June, 2018

[Saif al-Arab]

It is always difficult to fully measure something like this but it is for sure a huge economic boost.

The progress in the past few years (ever since MbS came around) coincided with the historic low oil prices. Some users here might remember how I "celebrated" the historic low oil prices a few years ago. I knew that it would be a somewhat painful experience on the short run but that the benefits would be enormous on the long run. Why? Because those historically low oil prices forced the regime to reevaluate their social contract with the people. The pampered welfare state that relied (far too much and ever since the oil boom in the 1970's) on foreign workforce (often when not needed at all), which had developed an absurd and foreign culture and a abysmal work rate (due to the pampered welfare state and affording to outsource all the jobs that locals did not want to do in general) combined with the Sahwa disease since the 1970's, and you had a toxic mix which had and has nothing to do with genuine Saudi Arabian (Arabia, Arab, Muslim etc.) culture or society.

Now slowly but surely normality is returning. So thank God for the low oil prices. It gave rise to all the necessary changes that have been ongoing and which will continue (you cannot turn back the tape now) for the betterment of KSA and the people. It also gave rise to a young, bold and ambitious person, MbS, who could otherwise have enjoyed life in California or the French Rivera and not given two ***** about the country.

I am a very happy person right now because I predicted this years ago when some trolls here and elsewhere were quick to write KSA off completely and spread doom and gloom. Unfortunately for those people they were/are not familiar with Saudi Arabians, KSA as country or the dynamics within the country.

Saudi women driving set to boost economy more than Aramco IPO
Allowing Saudi women to drive could add as much as $90 billion to economic output by 2030

Halah Hussein Reda a newlylicensed Saudi motorist waits for the road to clear before driving out of a driveway in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah early on June 24 2018 Photo: AMER HILABI/AFP/Getty Images.

Allowing Saudi women to drive could help the kingdom reap as much income as selling shares in Saudi Aramco.

The move, which went into effect on Sunday, could add as much as $90 billion to economic output by 2030, with the benefits extending beyond that date, according to Bloomberg Economics.

Selling as much as 5 percent stake in Saudi Arabian Oil Co. - at the most optimistic valuation - could generate about $100 billion.


Saudi Arabia ended its status as the last country on earth to prohibit women from taking to the wheel.

A handful of women drove through the still-packed streets of the capital early Sunday while others drove in convoys around Riyadh neighbourhoods in celebration of the ban’s end. The decision would enable women to work without having to incur the cost of a driver or taxis.

“Lifting the ban on driving is likely to increase the number of women seeking jobs, boosting the size of the workforce and lifting overall incomes and output,” according to Ziad Daoud, Dubai-based chief Middle East economist for Bloomberg Economics.

“But it’ll take time before these gains are realised as the economy adapts to absorbing growing number of women seeking work.”

Ending the ban is one of the most socially-consequential reforms implemented by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. It’s also a key part of his plan to veer the economy from its reliance on oil.

“The participation of women in Saudi Arabia’s labour market is poor. With less than 25% of females in Saudi Arabia economically active, the country even lags behind its neighbours in the Gulf, where participation averaged 42% in 2016,” said Daoud.

“Recognising this, the Saudi administration made raising the female participation rate one of its main targets in the National Vision 2030 program, designed to modernise Saudi society.”

Adding 1 percentage point to the Saudi participation rate every year might add about 70,000 more women a year to the labour market, according to Daoud.

The larger participation of women will lift potential economic growth by as much as 0.9 percentage points a year, “depending on the proportion that chooses to work full or part-time,” he said.


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http://www.arabianbusiness.com/poli...ing-set-to-boost-economy-more-than-aramco-ipo

 

[HAIDER]

Are we supposed to be impressed by that as Arabs? Did you miss my post? Arab females fought in wars that were recorded 3000 years ago. Including female Arab rulers.

Let alone during the Islamic era.

Read about Arab women during the Arab-Israeli wars as well. Millions of Arab women were directly involved in numerous independence wars/movements across the Arab world before Pakistan even became a country.

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/anci...caliph-in-history-do-arabs-hate-women.564572/

BTW in general women should only have supportive roles in the army.

Dude, if you are one of those hardcore Feminists, with all due respect, Pakistan is no role model to follow, nor are the Arab world or the Muslim world.

If you were some Dane, I would get your agenda here.

Isn't beautiful picture in hijab.......... well , in our society where we live, i don't believe in Western type freedom. Our society is not ready to accept such extra mile freedom yet.... freedom within limits set by our society and culture.

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Isn't beautiful picture in hijab.......... well , in our society where we live, i don't believe in Western type freedom. Our society is not ready to accept such extra mile freedom yet.... freedom within limits set by our society and culture.

Why reduce this to a question of hijab? Is that really such an important thing? I would care much more about giving women the same opportunities as men on fields where equality is the logical and beneficial thing (economic, society wise etc.), while not losing the cultural or religious aspect of what is expected from a woman. Something that I have noticed is missing in the West and which many Westerners themselves are complaining about and this has not necessarily anything to do with religion although some will claim it has (the rise of irreligion in Europe and the loss of traditional Christian values) and a feeling of not having a purpose in life. Consuming and buying basically.

I look at how women in Japanese society are looked at (traditionally) as something somewhat similar to KSA and the Arab world. If this respect could be retained while giving women all the rights that they deserve in this day and age (so-called modern world), I would be a happy person and man. On the other hand I would hardly look towards Japanese pop culture, their decreasing fertility rates, the isolation and loneliness that many women and men alike experience in Japan, the odd sexual culture (to say the least) and the in my view superficial tendencies that I have noticed.

It's not about copying or not copying anyone or anything. It's about doing the right thing in a given context in a given time period.

This step is much bigger than a vehicle with 4 wheels. It's about transforming the Saudi Arabian society as written in post 16, from the unnatural environment, that it has been placed in, in the past 40 years, and not only about mobility although mobility will lead to much greater women participation in the workforce and lead to tons of other positive aspects that will be seen from years to come.

This occurred 26 months ago. I remember covering it here on PDF. "Informed" users here on PDF said it was a PR stunt. I wonder where they are now here 26 months later with much more to come?

Now all they have left is some Israel nonsense.


When a photo (s) speak (s) for itself (themselves);

Aseel is a fine diamond. Let us hope that she can use her charm to get the F1 to KSA when tiny Bahrain and UAE next door can do it, and improve motor sports in KSA. The potential and interest is big.