Princess Reema: We need more women in leadership roles paving the way

Saudi Ambassador to the US Princess Reema bint Bandar said on Tuesday women have become vital contributors to the Kingdom’s economic future and highlighted the importance of education and mentorship in furthering the accomplishments of women for greater equality and inclusiveness.

“Half of the world's population are women. And yet, we still make up a fraction of leadership positions, of business owners, of middle management, and still too small a part of the overall workforce. So that needs to change. Because when women succeed, we all succeed,” she said at an Atlantic Council panel titled “The Rising Female Workforce in Saudi Arabia and Its Impact on the Private Sector.”

Princess Reema stressed the importance of investing in women’s empowerment: “It's not about just the bottom line. It's about creating a more inclusive and equitable society. It's the only way that I believe we can ensure that global, social and economic advancement is actual advancement, meaning advancement for everyone. Because advancement that doesn't embrace the need for gender equity, that's just not real advancement.”

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She highlighted several ways to address the gender gap: “I believe we need more women in leadership roles paving the way. We need more women in middle management positions continuing the work. We need more women business owners, more mentorship programs focused on female success, and more people investing in women-led startups. Frankly, more women at the table that help to shape the policies that affect us all. And we need more role models to show young girls what they can absolutely achieve.”

Princess Reema stressed the importance of education and training to level the playing field with a higher participation of women in education, training and mentorship to pave the way for greater inclusivity.

“Education and training helps level the playing field. It gives women an equal footing in the workplace and fosters not only gender equality, but equity. It also gives women greater control over their own financial lives, enabling them to participate more fully in the economic decision-making within their families and their communities. Because education and training is about having the real-life skills. It's about confidence-building, about preparing women to take their rightful place in society as full participants. We can shift cultural attitudes and norms around gender and business,” she said.

The ambassador went on to highlight the success story of women and their accomplishments under the auspices of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

She emphasized that there’s still much work to be done, but highlighted the recent progress of women in the Kingdom.

“Recently, the World Bank looked at 190 economies, and they ranked Saudi number one in terms of economic and social progress for women. Why? Because today in the kingdom we have more women receiving advanced degrees than men, more women enrolling in STEM, and more than 40 percent of small and medium-sized start-up companies are owned by women. Women today in Saudi Arabia enjoy equal pay,” Princess Reema said.

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