Dr Hanan Al Ahmadi has a formidable CV.
An economics graduate, she also has a master's in business administration and a doctorate in public health, both awarded by American universities. She has served on numerous government health committees, worked at Saudi and British universities and today runs the women's branch of Saudi Arabia's Institute for Public Administration, a government school that trains civil servants.
But among the 30 women appointed in January to Saudi Arabia's previously all-male Shura Council, her credentials barely stand out. Two-thirds of the women are PhDs and are affiliated with one of the Kingdom's universities. Most have studied in the United States, Britain or Canada.
As these accomplished women assume their new posts on the 150-member Council, their academic success reflects the growing opportunities for women in Saudi Arabia, as well the persistent limitations they face in public life.
University enrolment of women tripled between 1996 and 2006 and 58 per cent of university students are women, but available employment has grown at a far slower rate and women comprise only 12 per cent of the labour force.
The exception is the university sector, where opportunities for women have increased dramatically.
"A lot of the women appointed to the Shura Council have high degrees, and the majority were academics, because this is where you find this calibre of people," said Mounira Jamjoom, Saudi-based senior researcher at Booz & Company's Ideation Centre, a think tank.
"You will not find women with 10 to 15 years experience in the private sector."
Slowly, opportunities are opening up. In October last year, for example, women were granted the right to practise law. Nevertheless, the discrepancy between educational accomplishment and career options persists.
"Women in Saudi Arabia were confined to the teaching profession for many years, with only few families allowing their daughters to pursue medicine and nursing degrees," said Amani Hamdan, a professor who studies women's identity and education at Dammam University. "The number of female teachers exceeds the number of available jobs in schools."
"Nowadays women in Saudi Arabia can be interior designers, business graduates and computer engineers. Yet teaching would remain the preferred profession for many Saudi families."
About 63 per cent of women study education or humanities at university, specialities best suited to teaching, Ms Jamjoom said.
In the lack of job opportunities outside academia, the Saudi government is partly a victim of its own success in opening the doors of higher education to.
The first public school for women in Saudi Arabia opened in the 1960s in Riyadh, with a curriculum limited mostly to arts and humanities. In the next decade the number of schools for women increased tenfold, from 15 to 155. Women were first admitted to university in 1979. Meanwhile, enrolment rates soared, and 85 per cent of Saudi girls attended primary school by 1990.
Educational opportunities expanded even more dramatically under King Adbullah, who opened the first mixed-sex campus in 2009 and vastly expanded Princess Noura bint Abdul Rahman University for Women with a new campus in May 2011. The education budget nearly tripled during the first decade of the new century, and by 2009 it represented nearly a quarter of government expenditure.
University is now the norm for women who graduate from secondary school. Three-quarters go on to attend college.
The careers of the newly appointed women to the Shura Council indicate the limited job prospects that still face these graduates outside the university campus.
The non-academics include doctors, writers and a former senior UN official. None has made her careers exclusively in the private sector.
One cause is the Saudi tradition of strict sex segregation, which is expensive for employers to maintain. The stigma still attached to women in the workplace has slowed the growth of mixed workforces in hospitals and government offices, as well as universities.
Compounding the problem facing women in search of jobs is the lack of employment for all young people.
The country has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the region, with about a third of eligible workers 24 and under without jobs.
For all its success in bringing women into universities, Saudi Arabia's education curricula must become more relevant to the workforce, something that would aid unemployment across the board, according to Dr Wafa M Taibah, an educational psychologist and Shura Council member.
"Given that there is a mismatch between supply and demand in our labour market, we need to focus our effort on making sure our graduates acquire the right skills that are in demand in the labour market," she said.
Such skills include more technical and professional fields, as well as pre and on-the-job vocational training, said Dr Thuraya Arrayed, another Shura member.
"If we manage to fix education, we have probably a better chance fixing everything else," said Dr Taibah, who will focus her work in the Shura on education.
edickinson@thenational.ae
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
The Way It Was: My Life with Frank Sinatra by Eliot Weisman and Jennifer Valoppi
Hachette Books
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Seemar’s top six for the Dubai World Cup Carnival:
1. Reynaldothewizard
2. North America
3. Raven’s Corner
4. Hawkesbury
5. New Maharajah
6. Secret Ambition
Cricket World Cup League 2 Fixtures
Saturday March 5, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy (all matches start at 9.30am)
Sunday March 6, Oman v Namibia, ICC Academy
Tuesday March 8, UAE v Namibia, ICC Academy
Wednesday March 9, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy
Friday March 11, Oman v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Saturday March 12, UAE v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Chirag Suri, Muhammad Waseem, CP Rizwan, Vriitya Aravind, Asif Khan, Basil Hameed, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Karthik Meiyappan, Akif Raja, Rahul Bhatia
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
Empire of Enchantment: The Story of Indian Magic
John Zubrzycki, Hurst Publishers
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
If you go
The flights Etihad (www.etihad.com) and Spice Jet (www.spicejet.com) fly direct from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Pune respectively from Dh1,000 return including taxes. Pune airport is 90 minutes away by road.
The hotels A stay at Atmantan Wellness Resort (www.atmantan.com) costs from Rs24,000 (Dh1,235) per night, including taxes, consultations, meals and a treatment package.
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The five pillars of Islam
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Honeymoonish
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UFC Fight Night 2
1am – Early prelims
2am – Prelims
4am-7am – Main card
7:30am-9am – press cons
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Austrian Grand Prix race timings
Weekend schedule for Austrian Grand Prix - all timings UAE
Friday
Noon-1.30pm First practice
4-5.30pm Second practice
Saturday
1-2pm Final practice
4pm Qualifying
Sunday
4pm Austrian Grand Prix (71 laps)
MATCH INFO
Newcastle United 3
Gayle (23'), Perez (59', 63')
Chelsea 0
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Washmen Profile
Date Started: May 2015
Founders: Rami Shaar and Jad Halaoui
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Laundry
Employees: 170
Funding: about $8m
Funders: Addventure, B&Y Partners, Clara Ventures, Cedar Mundi Partners, Henkel Ventures
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Company profile
Name: Infinite8
Based: Dubai
Launch year: 2017
Number of employees: 90
Sector: Online gaming industry
Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor
