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Providing Equal Opportunities
The 2030 Vision further 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 female, 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 government issued and still amending its various laws to tackle the issue of discrimination in general, and gender discrimination in specific. KAU, applies all laws and regulations that are issued by the government and further defines its internal version of such rules' application within the university.
The Implementing Regulations of the Labor Law: Prohibiting Wage Discrimination
On page 51, of the Implementing Regulations of the Labor Law, which is issued in November 2019, under Article 34, point 2, it is mentioned that:
Wage discrimination between male and female workers performing equal work is prohibited.
Professional Ethics Charter: Non-Discrimination
In the Professional Ethics Charter, which is created in 2015, and reviewed in 2020, Principle 4 under the “Ethical Principles” section, page 8, is titled: “Equality and Non-Discrimination”, and defines it as “Equality and Non-Discrimination is an understanding that requires the employees (faculty & staff) to deal with all students, fellow faculty members and everyone in KAU in a similar way, regardless of gender, social status, religion, color, Ethnicity, disability or other”.
Principle 5 under sub-section “Students & Tests” which is listed under “Obligations & Responsibilities” section, page 10, requests that the faculty member “considers the individual differences and awareness of the nature of students and their various characteristics and personalities, during his work”.
Principle 1 under sub-section “Peer Faculty Members & Administration” which is listed under the “Obligations & Responsibilities” section, page 11, requests that the faculty member “demonstrates the ethical anti-discrimination behavior of Islam and morals when dealing with the administration, colleagues, students, and all university employees”.
Click on the image to view the charter
Principle 19 under sub-section “University” which is listed under the “Obligations & Responsibilities” section, page 13, requests the faculty member “to commit to seek and contribute to preventing all kinds of discrimination against any person or group on the basis of race, color, sex, age, religion, political belief, disabilities in its various categories, personal preferences, and social status or standing”.
The Ministerial decree number 39860, issued in 2018, decided the following important rules and regulations regarding the discrimination against women in the work domains and the workplaces. The Ministry of Labor and Social Development stressed the need for employers and workers in the private sector to comply with the unified organization of the working environment for women, which aims to create an attractive working environment for women and enable them to work in various labor market activities, while maintaining their privacy at work.
The ministry pointed to its keenness through this organization to open several areas for women's work while providing an attractive and safe work environment for women's work and stability.
The related decisions can be fetched from page 4:
It is forbidden to do any work that could affect women’s freedom which could slow or stop work equality or discrimination in treatment at work which will be against the Labor Law and other regulations.
It is forbidden to discriminate between genders regarding their wages in jobs which have similar profiles.
The organization is responsible to provide adequate working environment for women.
The Ministry stressed that any enterprise that violates the provisions of the regulation will be subject to the penalties imposed by the Labor Law and relevant ministerial decisions, stressing that it will not be negligent in following up the commitment of the establishments to organize and implement the legal procedures in their right.
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