lifting the driving-ban will provide a fillip to women’s participation in national life even as opportunities for foreign workers shrink
Thanks to a royal decree issued by King Salman on September 26, 2017, women will be permitted to drive for the first time in the history of Saudi Arabia. It is a big step towards women empowerment — as the New York Times rightly put it, the ban has become a global symbol of the oppression of women in the ultraconservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
According to the decree, the traffic laws would be amended and a high-level ministerial committee will look further the necessary steps need to be taken before the change can be implemented. The new policy will be implemented from June 24, 2018. As reported by Wall Street Journal, according to market-research firm Frost & Sullivan “up to 150,000 women will get drivers’ licenses in the kingdom each year but the number could be higher in the first year as many women, particularly younger ones, rush to get behind the wheel.”
Princess Nourah University having more than 60,000 female students in Riyadh and other cities is preparing to open a driving school. There are eight million adult Saudi women and from Saudi Arabia’s perspective the decision will bring more and more women into the workforce. For global car makers, the decision has opened a large market and the automobile industry has responded with enthusiasm, their social media handles welcoming the decision.
Of course, while not every Saudi woman is likely to drive but the job market for foreign drivers will surely shrink especially as car-hailing apps with plans to hire female chauffeurs are already in the works and, once women hit the roads, job opportunities for foreign drivers will shrink further. The Saudi authorities have already made clear that because of the low rate of ‘Saudisation’ in the transport sector no foreign drivers male or female would be hired.
There are number of people from South Asia working in the West Asia and Indians are the largest expatriate community in Saudi Arabia at present — there are about 2.96 million Indians living and working in the country. Since 2009, every year India accounts for around three lakh workers per year sent to Saudi Arabia. But the numbers are falling. Responding to a question in Rajya Sabha, the Ministry of External Affairs said the number of registered migrants heading towards the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries which were 775,845 in 2014 fell to 507,296 in 2016. For Saudi Arabia, the number fell from 329,882 in 2014 to 165,356 in 2016. Most South Asian expatriates working in GCC countries are less or semi-skilled. This explains why despite of 34.6% decline in the number of migrants heading towards GCC, the total flow of remittances went down just approximately 10 per cent, from $70 billion in 2014 to $62.745 billion in 2016. And foreign workers in the transport sector where ‘Saudisation’ is now the key phrase are likely to be only the first lot to be affected by the realization in Riyadh of the importance of getting women into the workforce.
Today, about 10 per cent of Kerala’s population does not live in the State; approximately every third house has a person working in the Gulf and remittances constitute almost 35 per cent of Kerala’s gross state domestic product. In the last couple of the years, the underdeveloped areas of ‘Purvanchal’ which constitute eastern Uttar Pradesh and western Bihar had started making a beeline for the Gulf. Presently, the number of emigrants from Bihar is estimated to be around 1.5 lakh and according to estimations made by travel agents around 70 per cent of emigrants come from Gopalganj and Siwan. During 2007-2012 the Siwan and Gopalganj police verified 198,000 and 153,000 passports respectively and the maximum remittances for the period April 2015- March 2016 were received by Siwan district followed by Gopalganj, and the trend was the same during 2014 also. But these new entrants and those in the queue have to understand that the policy of replacing expatriates with the locals, especially encouraging women to enter the workforce including in even previously ultra conservative societies such as Saudi Arabia shows that employment opportunities are rapidly shrinking in West Asia. In these circumstances, even the “house driver visa”, which was one of the easiest to get for Indians and was a well-paying job compared to wages obtainable in India, is likely not to be the same anymore.
The decision to let women drive would help Saudi Arabia to save about twenty billion Saudi riyal a year. Many from Kerala work as house-drivers in Saudi Arabia and the ripples of this decision are already being felt. As more women join the work-force, they will replace immigrants in other sectors of the economy in Saudi Arabia also. In the situation when creating well-paid jobs are proving to be an arduous task for successive Indian governments, and given the trend of shrinking job opportunities for Indians in West Asia, it is time for New Delhi to focus its energies on getting more and more women into the workforce to ensure long-term economic benefits for the country and the empowerment of women.
(The writer is a post-graduate student, Centre for Informal Sector and labour Studies, School of SocialSciences, JNU)