The hotel owners explained that their hotel meets the current market demand in the country. They said that in recent years, Saudi women have been playing an increasing role in the public and social life of the kingdom, travelling extensively around the country.
However, in many cases hotels refuse to book rooms for women in advance unless it is done by a male guarantor. Every Saudi woman must have a male guarantor, regardless of age. It could be her father, husband or any other male member of the family. Hotels in the country usually accommodate women as family members accompanying men.
But the owners of the new hotel say today’s businesswomen, who often travel to Riyadh on their own to attend various events or simply to visit expensive shops, find the current situation inconvenient, and the ‘female hotel’ is intended to help them make their trips ‘more enjoyable’.
Saudi women have started entering the mainstream of national life and hope that social attitudes towards them would continue to progress under Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz. Women’s issues have been given an unprecedented attention in Saudi television programmes, radio shows, newspapers and private meetings in recent years.
Saudis have seen debates on the pros and cons of women driving, how the court system and divorce laws are skewed in favour of men, the high unemployment women suffer, and whether desegregated workplaces violate Islamic law.
Recently, Saudi authorities have approved the establishment of an all-women industrial city that will host training centres and employ approximately 10,000 women at more than 80 factories.
Still, further progress on women’s issues will be made. The Saudi ministry of education recently appointed 27 women in senior positions in accordance with its plan to reserve top jobs for women, especially in the ministries of education and higher education.
Five posts of deans have been reserved for women as part of the government’s efforts to place women in top positions and give them more autonomy concerning girls’ education.
“This is in addition to women consultants, who were recently appointed to aid and advice the Shoura Council on women-related issues,” said Dr Fauzia Al Bakr, a professor at King Saud University (KSU) in Riyadh.
Al Bakr said that the ministries of education and higher education have taken steps to provide employment to women.
According to a report released by the education ministry, the first five women deans are already working with the ministry. This would help meet the research needs of 102 girls’ colleges in the kingdom and help promote their educational and social development.
