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KAU Advances from 101-200 to 34th Globally!
Pioneers in Women support
kau is proudly the First public university in ksa that graduates the first group of women engineers
On Monday, the 13th of March, 2017, King Abdulaziz University celebrated the graduation of its first batch of female electrical and industrial engineers.
Hanaa Al-Naeem, dean of KAU’s Women’s College of Electronic and Industrial Engineering, congratulated the graduates and their parents for the achievement. “The university has produced a new generation of graduates and future creators during its graduation ceremony. The Women’s College of Electronic and Industrial Engineering gave women a chance to become pioneers in society. They will build society and break new grounds".
Women in Saudi Vision 2030
Women account for 49.6% of the total Saudi population, but have an extremely low economic participation rate of just 19%, compared to 64.6% for men. This wide disparity underscores the need to make further efforts in order to harness the full potential and capabilities of women to achieve inclusive and sustainable development in the Kingdom. Towards this end, the Kingdom aims to raise women participation to 25% by 2020. This will be achieved through a number of plans and programs that are being assessed in terms of likely impact by the National Observatory of Women's Participation in Development, in association with stakeholders.
Providing Equal Opportunities
The 2030 Vision serves SDG5 by focusing on "providing opportunities for everyone - men and women, young and old - so they may contribute to the best of their abilities".
"Saudi women are yet another great asset. With over 50 percent of Saudi university graduates being females, the government will continue to develop their talents, invest in their productive capabilities and enable them to strengthen their future and contribute to the development of the society and economy".
The achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls to reach their full potential, is the key to Sustainability Development Goal 5, "GENDER EQUALITY".
This requires the elimination of all forms of discrimination, violence and harmful practices against women and access to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has promoted women's standing in development through capacity development and harnessing of women’s capabilities in order to leverage their local and international roles. Vision 2030 dedicates the necessary efforts for enablement of women in community and economic development, as well as in raising women's stature as an effective player at all levels. Vision 2030 sets a separate strategic objective to increase women's participation in the labor market. The Vision further ensures women's rights in the fields of health, education, protection, employment and in being provided with a decent living standard. This is much in alignment with SDG5's objectives and targets.
Saudi Arabia has taken several measures that aim to enable women to hold leading positions in the government. Women became members of the Shura Council (Consultative Council), elected to municipal board councils and several women were appointed to top-level positions in the government and private sectors. Saudi Arabia is inching closer to achieve its goal of gender parity of wages. One noteworthy progress has been the rise in women's participation in the labor market from 12% in 2009 to 18% in 2017. Vision 2030 aims to raise this share to 25% by 2020.
The launch of the National Observatory of Women's Participation in Development is another manifestation of the Kingdom's efforts to foster conditions that are conducive to women's participation in forging ahead with the development process. The observatory is a think tank that seeks to monitor Saudi women's participation in development at local and international levels, along several themes encompassing economic, educational, regulatory, health and social fields. As such, the observatory serves as a reference resource for decision-makers and charitable societies and associations and institutions, through compiling of benchmark, indicators relevant to women's role in development. In addition, several initiatives were launched with both direct and indirect intent to enable women in all fields. Key among these are:
Launching of an electronic portal that allows job seeking women to register and obtain information on eligibility criteria in all provinces.
Providing affordable childcare services to working women, and launching of a program to support the hosting of children of working women (Qurrah).
Development of mechanisms that enable female members of vulnerable groups to make use of qualification programs that provide employment from home at the end of training.
Launching a training program aimed at providing professional support to needy women and orphans by equipping them with the necessary skills to enter the labor market.
Launching of a program to support the transport of working women (Wusool).
Provides financial support to women to protect them from poverty. It also offers training opportunities to develop skills required for employment and runs campaigns to raise awareness as to the importance of women participation in municipal elections. AlNahda provides portals for women to share experience in various fields.
There are also charitable societies and associations and non-profit organizations which offer considerable moral and material support to Saudi women in all areas. These institutions and organizations seek to promote women's participation in the labor market and conduct events and activities that create opportunities for partnerships, information sharing and increased public awareness. Most notable among these institutions and organizations are:
Deem Al-Manahil Fund (Princess Madawi' fund for women development)
The fund serves as a business incubator to encourage Saudi women through offering of technical, management and financial support in entrepreneurial activities.
National family security program
The program seeks to promote family security, safety and unity, through protection and support programs, awareness promotion and forging of professional partnerships with specialists, government and private institutions and international organizations, to create a safe family environment in Saudi Arabia. The program focuses on family as a basis for unity of society.
AlNahda Women Charitable Society
Provides financial support to women to protect them from poverty. It also offers training opportunities to develop skills required for employment and runs campaigns to raise awareness as to the importance of women participation in municipal elections. AlNahda provides portals for women to share experience in various fields.
Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Fund for Women's Development
Provides support for women to promote their role in community building and advancement.
Social Development Bank
Social Development Bank (SDB) provides financial support to women for project management and business plans. Over 25 successful projects in women entrepreneurs have been carried out by SDB in various business fields.
Wafa institution for women's rights
Wafa was founded to promote awareness of society as to women's rights, through conducting of specialized studies and research work and through the creation of a legal advice center.
The Kingdom further launched several other initiatives that are directly relevant to SDG 5. Among these are achieving gender equality in civil service; enablement of female leaders; and improved women representation in decision-making positions. A trend of gender parity is emerging in general education enrolment. This corresponds with percentage distribution of the population by gender. In general and based on gender equality principle, the Kingdom's Basic Law of Governance prohibits discrimination against women and bans all forms of discrimination. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has acceded to a number of international agreements and conventions, including the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
KAU and Gender Equality
With their high reachability to generations, and major role in creating and disseminating knowledge, universities have been the major drivers of local, regional and global innovation, economic and social development. As such, universities have a critical role in the marketing and achievement of the SDGs while also benefitting from them.
On the community level, KAU, as a higher education institution, occupy a unique position within the Saudi society and is aware of the responsibilities towards the Gender Equality.
In this sense, KAU has been collaborating with local and international institutions and universities in order to improve and enhance the Gender Equality outcomes and contribute to SDG5 related topics to the benefit of the university as well as the local and international communities. Women trainings and awareness activities are conducted by KAU staff and students to empower WOMEN within the Saudi Educational Society. On top of that, the university even has specific subject areas that are exclusive to WOMEN.
In brief, KAU is working on:
Achieving gender parity in political, public and economic life.
Implementing workplace gender equity strategies, including those for improving the representation of women in university leadership positions and senior academic roles.
Encouraging all Faculty, and specifically Females, to contribute to the overall university's research output that is related to Gender Equality.
Working to close the gender pay gap on campus and beyond.
Providing, on campus, facilities for females students and employees like safe and secure transportation and childcare and promoting workplace flexibility.
Participating in national and international campaigns for preventing violence against women and committing to report on the number of sexual assaults that could take place at KAU.
Data Publishing
KAU publishes and reports all events and data that are related to SDG5, mainly online on the SDG related page, or as part of its strategy, as well as other dedicated reports, to monitor and control the sustainability goals’ improvement within KAU and as part of KAU’s alignment with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.
All the data that is related to SDG5 “Gender Equality” is openly available and can be fetched from the below channels:
SDG 5 Report2023.pdfKAU Efforts towards gender eQuality
Here is a brief list of events and actions that are related to "Gender Equality" and which are detailed in the SDG5 related sections:
KAU created “Local, National & Global Collaborations & Agreements” with “Local, National & Global Education Centers”, “Universities”, “Research Centers” for the sake of providing, exchanging, and enhancing expertise that are related to Gender Equality.
KAU organizes awareness lectures and trainings that support WOMEN.
KAU is encouraging women's applying to subjects in which they are under-represented.
KAU defines and applies the government's non-discrimination policy, including discrimination against WOMEN, and protect any claimers.
KAU engages in international conferences and research, with well-known international universities that are related to “Gender Equality”.
KAU provides a set of facilities that would support WOMEN's studying and working within the university.
The below areas explain, in details, how KAU is approaching this SDG while enhancing aspects related to Gender Equality.
5.1: Publications in Gender Equality
This is the research that is relevant to the study of gender and the volume of research produced in this regard. It also checks the proportion of KAU publications that are authored by women.
For the sake of empowering Gender Equality Research, KAU continuously engages in National, Regional, and International Conferences and Research Collaborations, with well-known Universities and Organizations with regards to topics that are related to “Gender Equality”.
5.2: Proportion of 1st Generation FEMALE Students
Around 56% of FEMALE Students starting a First Degree in KAU, are First-Generation FEMALE Students.
This is a critical indicator to understand how KAU is supporting Gender Equality through facilitating the admission, follow-up, and support of FEMALE students, especially First-Generation FEMALE Students.
5.3: Students' Access Measures
KAU has been taking the proper access measures that would empower Gender Equality, like tracking Females study completion rate, availing special majors for Females only, providing Women's access schemes, as well as encouraging Females to apply to KAU through outreach activities.
5.4: Proportion of Senior FEMALE Academics
56% of Senior Positions in KAU are occupied by WOMEN.
This is a critical indicator to understand how KAU is supporting Gender Equality through empowering WOMEN by recruiting them in the different senior positions like faculty and leaders/ deanships.
5.5: Proportion of FEMALES Receiving Degrees
Around 64% of KAU's FIRST DEGREE GRADUATES are FEMALES.
This is a critical indicator to understand how KAU is supporting Gender Equality through empowering FEMALES by assuring their graduation completion in every subject area, including these 3 important areas.
5.6: Women's Progress Measures
KAU has been always striving to provide Lifelong Learning Opportunities for every Saudi citizen in different aspects like defining the necessary policies to avail education to everyone, availing free access to its vast educational resources for those not studying at KAU, hosting different types of events at university that are open to the community, as well as organizing educational outreach activities in local schools, in the community.
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