Saudi Women Still Unable to Start Businesses Solo - Building Gender Balanced Business

• Leading Saudi businesswomen say their country needs to fully implement changes in laws related to establishing and managing businesses.

• The women report that despite a 2004 ministerial decision allowing Saudi women to set up businesses without a male guardian, businesswomen outside of a few regions are still required to have a male guardian sign off to start an enterprise.

• The women leading the challenge are Alia Banaja, chairwoman of the Jeddah-based 2 The Point; Hatoon Al-Fassi, Saudi writer and historian based in Riyadh; and Aisha Almana, the director of Almana Group of Hospitals in the Eastern Province.

• The ministerial decree already applies only to Saudi woman owning and managing businesses that employ and cater only to women. Businesses targeted at both sexes must still be managed, by decree as well as in fact, by a male.

• Al-Fassi told Arab News that this issue was “painful” to businesswomen. “A decision has been made and yet there are still failures to implement it,” she said. “People responsible for carrying out the rules are still afraid. They have undermined the validity of the decision and its power. Some still think they are protecting society from the evil of a woman running and managing her own business.”

The Arab News report