Saudi Arabia on Tuesday confirmed that the year 2018 had witnessed many decisions that contributed to women empowerment in the Kingdom, paving way for their entry into many new areas, the Saudi Press Agency reported. In a speech to the Executive Council of the United Nations Women's Authority in New York, Saudi Arabia's Permanent Representative to the UN Abdullah Bin Yahya Al-Muallimi said 2018 marked the year of transformation and excellence for Saudi women. He thanked the UN Commission on Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women for its outstanding performance in achieving most of the goals set for implementation in the first year of the Strategic Plan for 2018-2021. The Kingdom appreciated the contribution of the United Nations Women's Fund to the promotion of women's rights in leadership and government as well as to their economic empowerment by encouraging legislation to promote women's rights, in addition to supporting the development of government entities, partnerships, international organizations and policies to enable women to have better access to services, finance and utilization of productive resources, Al-Muallimi said in his speech. The Saudi experience in women empowerment became evident in terms of the results in two UN performance indicators this year. They include enabling women to play leading roles in government and participate in it on an equal footing with men, Al-Muallimi said. He pointed out that the Saudi leadership continued to issue successive orders to get rid of all discriminatory practices against women in the country. Most important among these was the royal order No. 33322 dated 17/4/2017 that stressed to all pertinent government authorities not to demand of women to obtain approval from any person when they need government services for completion of procedures for their benefit. Al-Muallimi also referred to the royal order appointing Princess Reema Bint Bandar Bin Sultan as the Kingdom's ambassador to the United States. Princess Reema became the first woman to be appointed as an ambassador in the history of Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, the decision allowing women to drive cars came into effect in different parts of the Kingdom after the Traffic Department had fulfilled all the requirements and made all preparations to enable women to drive in the country, he pointed out. Al-Muallimi mentioned the "Wusool" program for supporting working women to travel to and from work and the "Qurrah" program that aims to build licensed child care centers near work places to raise the percentage of women's participation in the labor market while ensuring job and family stability at the same time. As part of the decisions taken to enhance women's rights pertaining to the judiciary, the number of women lawyers was increased by 120 percent, and special centers for implementing verdicts on child custody were set up with the objective of providing a model environment in which a secure, healthy and recreational family atmosphere prevails. The setting up of an alimony fund project (Nafaqah) for divorcees and their children ensured timely support for divorced women and their children. The fund helped avoid waiting for payment by procrastinating ex-husbands and fathers during divorce or litigation by making the payment binding, he said. Al-Muallimi said the Kingdom had taken many continuous steps to reform the laws and regulations to meet the Kingdom's aspirations to achieve the advancement of women. He expressed the Kingdom's desire for more international partnership programs to enhance cooperation between UN organizations for women and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries including Saudi Arabia.
