Introduction
It is intricate for the Saudi women to find good work. Most businesses find it hard to hire women because of the staunch cultural norms and strict gender discrimination that goes around the country. Women in Saudi are associated with household chores (Abeer, 2012). Those that work in big companies are men, this happens in a country where the highest percentage of graduates is women. The only women that are allowed to work are those that are widowed and when necessary. However, over time things have changed, women have come out and agitated for entrepreneurship to help support families. Most women in the country have established their own businesses and are managing them despite the challenges (Abeer and Smith, 2012). This paper therefore gives an insight of the challenges and opportunities that this women face in businesses.
Saudi women in business had roles that had been stipulated to them by the society. Women are taught that their primary role is to raise kids and take care of their houses. The women in business are allowed to work but on condition that she does not neglect her primary duties of home making. There are also allowed to work in their businesses for as long as they do not interact with the opposite gender (Rahman, 2010).their work was not supposed to interfere with their role of raising children. These women as we see had roles they had to play in their course of running their businesses. The aim of this paper is to critically examine the challenges the women of Saudi Arabia face in the course of running their businesses. We will also give a view of the objectives, which are looking at the overall view of Saudi Arabian culture, looking at the challenges that the women face in entrepreneurship, the opportunities available to these women in entrepreneurship and finally why women entrepreneurship would be important.
Challenges
The first challenge faced by the women is inadequate policies and regulatory environment for their businesses. They include unclear policies by the government to participate in the business sector since we know that this is an issue in the country. There are also obstacles faced when they are starting the businesses when undertaking the procedures of licensing. These obstacles are at times specified to women or in a way created to affect them. Another regulatory policy affecting them is the driving ban. Males have an advantage over them because for the women to travel they have to incur financial burdens for either taxis or drivers. The government also forced to respond to support services that will enhance the growth of women businesses (Lavelle and Hessah, 2013)
The second challenge is the attitude in the women and the competencies gap among the entrepreneurs. While most successful entrepreneurs In Saudi carry the qualities of courage, capability, determination and education, there are internal constraints that have held them back from reaching the niche of their customers (Ramady, 2005). They include self-confidence, risk taking, autonomy, and self-esteem among others. This entire are factors that contribute to a successful entrepreneur which some of them lack.
Lastly is their social cultural restriction. Their social values and cultures are made in such a way that they are a hindrance to the women in achieving their success. Their culture has given the women the role of women and wives, she is a good wife, a mother, obedient quiet and modest (Becker, 2012). The public has overtime allowed women to work and join fields that grow. There is however another group of people that put her in the home sector roles.
Opportunities
Despite these challenges, the women enjoy remarkable opportunities offered to them only (Saudi, 2010). They include the small youth population that is bulging. This helps the women develop in their entrepreneurship since the youth embrace the idea of women empowerment. There are also new political emphasis that encourage women entrepreneurship in Saudi over the past political rules and regulations.
The Saudi government support in the women has also grown than the way it was before. This means that there are no favors being given to men over them. They are treated equally despite their cultures therefore a chance for the women to compete and grow in the same level as men.
The level of employment for Saudi women still remains minimal this encourages them to start small businesses and also put interest in careers that they think can benefit them (Fatany, 2007). The women also hold a certain economic power in the country. This gives them the power to have access to resources available to raise capital for them (Lavelle and Hessah, 2013).
Conclusion
It is evident that Saudi Arabia is a country with strong cultures, which tend to discriminate against women some of their rights. We have nonetheless seen that the women have been empowered. The public has given them an opportunity to participate in business activities; this is something they were not allowed to do before. They used to be associated with household chores. The public and the government have supported them and the trend of women entrepreneurs seem to be growing despite the challenges that they are facing in the course of them engaging in business activities this is important because by doing so they would be encouraging employment in the country and be raising the economic level of the country.
References
Abeer, Y.D., & Smith.H.L. (2012). Female entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia: opportunities and challenges. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship. 4, 216-235.
Becker, K.G. (2012). Male Gender Bias in Autism and Pediatric Autoimmunity. Autism Research. 5, 77-83.
Fatany, S. (2007). Saudi women: Towards a new era. Saudi Arabia: Ghainaa Publications.
Ibrahim, S.E., & Hopkins, N.S. (1985). Arab society: social science perspectives. Cairo, Egypt, American university in Cairo press.
Ramady, M.A (2005). The Saudi Arabian economy: Policies, Achievements and Challenges. New York, NY, Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
Sadi M.A. & Al Ghazali B.M. (2010). Doing business with impudence: A focus on women entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia. African Journal of Business Management. 4, 001-011.
