JEDDAH: Princess Adela Bint Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, president of the Al-Sayyida Khadija Bint Khowailid Center, has called for a university specialization strategy to focus on the needs of the job market and the creation of more training centers and colleges to cope with demand. Speaking at the three-day Al-Sayyida Khadija Women's Forum which closed at Jeddah's Hilton Hotel Tuesday night, Princess Adela also appealed to banks to provide better loan incentives to “help qualified women become decision-makers”. “We need a review of regulations to ensure women are involved in the national development process,” the princess said. “Saudi women own 12 percent of the Kingdom's companies and 16 percent of major factories, while over 40,000 commercial registers in the Kingdom are in the names of women, an increase of around 77 percent since 2007.” She added that with women constituting 50 percent of Saudi society, they “should be permitted job opportunities in all positions and fields, if they have the qualifications”. “World Bank statistics show that the Kingdom is second in the world behind the United States of America in terms of money transfers out of the country, and is ranked fourth in its numbers of workers recruited from abroad,” she said. Princess Adela told Al-Yawm newspaper, meanwhile, her views on a variety of issues of concern to Saudi women and wider society, saying it was time for a “serious look at introducing sports in girls' schools” and that illnesses related to a lack of exercise pose a “looming threat” to the present and future of schoolgirls. “Physical education for boys and girls is a fundamental subject for the curriculum on scientific grounds to produce a generation aware of the importance of physical health,” she told Al-Yawm in a lengthy interview in which she cited the social and health benefits of sport for young people. “The time has come to take a realistic and serious look at introducing sport in girls' schools due to the increase in illnesses related to obesity and lack of exercise which have become a looming threat to girls of today and the mothers of the future, as long as it is done within the framework of Islamic Shariah and the privacy of Saudi girls.” The princess said that a study from the Faculty of Medicine at Dammam's King Faisal University revealed “high rates” of obesity in Saudi schoolgirls aged 16 to 17. “The Kingdom also has the highest rate of child diabetes in the Gulf, while diabetes is a cause of kidney failure which a high percentage of Saudis suffer from,” she said. Princess Adela also gave her views on the marriage of minors. “In my opinion a minimum age should be set for the marriage of girls to stop these cases occurring,” she said. “Forcing an 18-year-old to marry an elderly man is a form of violence, let alone marrying off a 12-year-old, a minor, who is not legally responsible to sign any contract. That shows that she is not entrusted by law and so the measure is illogical as well as inhumane, and she is cast into a contractual situation agreed upon by her guardian without her understanding what it entails.” The princess said that the first step to addressing the issue should be to “set a fixed minimum age”. “There are a lot of institutions working towards that, as seen in the recent discussions on the subject held by the Shoura Council.” Known for her involvement in the work of numerous charities primarily concerned with improving the lives of women and children, Princess Adela said that efforts in the field could be more effective if not held back by a “lack of clarity of purpose” and internal administrative and organizational issues, notably a lack of coordination leading to a lot of the same efforts being unnecessarily carried out at the same time or in a dispersed fashion. Princess Adela also had a word for the Saudi people concerning her father, King Abdullah, currently in the United States recovering from an operation. “I can reassure the Saudi people that the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques is in good health. The surgery was a success, and he always follows the news of the nation's people when abroad for treatment,” she told Al
