Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the United States Princess Reema bint Bandar penned an open letter for Vogue Middle East discussing the progress made and path forward for Saudi Arabia’s women, noting that women in the Kingdom are “cracking the glass ceiling.”
“Never has there been a more promising, more optimistic time to be a young woman in Saudi Arabia than right now. Barriers are being replaced by opportunity. Cultural limitations are giving way to social transformation. What we are now seeing in the Kingdom is a historic wakeup call – a long overdue realization that our economy cannot prosper or thrive if half our population is on the sidelines, unable to fully participate and contribute,” Princess Reema writes.
“Change is now happening all around us and our collective journey will continue until Saudi women are so genuinely accepted in every job and sector that we never again have to call any Arab woman ‘the first.’”
Princess Reema is currently serving as the first female Ambassador from Saudi Arabia to the United States.
Context matters for Saudi Arabia’s story, “as each country’s progress must take place in a manner and pace where change and reform become irrevocable,” Ambassador Reema says. “[N]ow, consider Saudi Arabia today: Women are driving and traveling freely; they make up 60% of the nation’s university graduates; the guardianship system has been dismantled and women have greater freedoms and independence; segregation in restaurants and public events has ended; women in Saudi enjoy equal pay, whether in public or private sector employment; and they are CEOs, bankers, soldiers, athletes, firefighters, and ambassadors.
These are profound, historic changes that many would have considered, even just a few years ago, all but unimaginable. And now it’s happening.
[Click here to read the full open letter to Vogue Middle East]
