Saudi Arabia opens security jobs to women

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A number of Saudi initiatives aim at increasing the percentage of women in the workforce.

Saudi Arabia's public security department has opened up its military-style jobs to women for the first time.

"The General Directorate of Public Security announces military jobs for females at the rank of soldier," the public security directorate, which is part of the ministry of interior, said in an advert on its official Twitter account on Sunday.

The online application process will be open until Thursday. The jobs are available in the regions of Riyadh, Makkah, Madinah, Al Qaseem, Asir, Al Baha, and the Eastern Province.

Applicants should be native-born and raised Saudis (with the exception of those who lived abroad with their fathers due to a government job), be of good standing, between the ages of 25 to 35 with a high school diploma or its equivalent and must pass entrance exams and interviews and a medical examination.

A series of reforms initiated this year in the Kingdom was particularly aimed at empowering women, including a landmark decree in September by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, allowing women to drive from June 2018.

The country's Vision 2030 roadmap for the future, spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, aims to increase the percentage of women in the workforce. In January, the general directorate of passports (GDP) said that it had received an overwhelming response to a job advertisement for women to work in airports and land-border crossings, when 107,000 women applied for 140 vacancies. Earlier this month, the Kingdom's public prosecution office said that it would recruit women as investigators for the first time. The applicants should be Saudi citizens, be of good standing and be a holder of a degree in Shariah or information technology, from one of the Kingdom's colleges or its equivalent.