Rashed Al-Fouzan Al-Riyadh newspaper Nowadays women's employment is a hot topic. All of us want to protect women but none are keen to prepare the ground for them to achieve success by providing training or creating opportunities. In my view, the most urgent thing we need to act on is the issue of transportation. Unlike other countries, Saudi Arabia does not have public transportation facilities such as a reliable bus or metro service. So women commuters have to depend solely on private transport though some use taxis but most often, they rely on a private driver or a family member. How is it possible to address the problem of women's unemployment when there is no solution to the the problem of transportation? When women find jobs, the often ask themselves how much transportation will cost and it is this cost that determines whether they accept or reject an offer of employment. The number of private drivers is huge and if we calculate how much they are costing the country, it comes out to billions of Saudi riyals. Women have the same right to jobs as men do. They too have ambitions and dreams to fulfill. They are willing to work hard and acquire skills to realize those dreams, so it is imperative that we ease their road to employment by arranging reliable and cheap means of transportation. An adequate public transport network across the cities and towns of the country would be an ideal solution to the transportation woes of working women. We should not think in terms of jobs offered by big companies that provide employees their own transportation. It is impossible for all women job seekers to land jobs in such large companies. We are making every effort to create employment opportunities for women. Since King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, took over the reins of the country, women have been bestowed with great opportunities and given a leading role. But it is essential for our officials and decision makers to remove the hurdles that stand in the way of employing women. Such hurdles have nothing to do with women's expertise, skills or willingness to work. We have to simplify procedures to employ women because the options for them are not many.
