Exploring the challenges for women working in the event and festival sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the participation of women in many activities, including employment, is severely restricted and their continued exclusion from public life is a significant issue as KSA looks to improve its economic prosperity. Women’s underrepresentation in many economic sectors is a focus of the national ‘Saudi Vision 2030’ programme. By cultivating an understanding of the workplace challenges and employment limitations faced by women in KSA, government and industry can improve employment opportunities for Saudi women. The primary aim of this study is to explore the challenges for women working in the KSA event and festival sector. This research used a case study approach involving semi-structured interviews with personnel from within event and festival organisations and ministries in KSA. The study identified several challenges to Saudi women’s inclusion in the sector: cultural values, social network, workplace environment, education and training, gender diversity and regulation. Addressing these issues through evidence-based strategies can improve empowerment and inclusion of women in the event and festival sector. The lessons learned can also be applied to other employment sectors in KSA and extend our current knowledge of challenges to women’s empowerment by providing new perspectives arising from the context of KSA.

KEYWORDS:

• Saudi Arabia
• empowering women
• Saudi Vision 2030
• tourism
• entertainment
• event and festival

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Griffith Institute for Tourism and the Saudi Arabia Government for their support. Our thanks are also due to Dr Clare Morrison who have proofread the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Griffith Institute for Tourism and the Saudi Arabia Government.

Notes on contributors

Rafiah Almathami

Rafiah Almathami is a PhD Candidate at University of Queensland. Her research interests include gender diversity, culture, society, mixed workplace environments, particularly in the tourism contexts. She is currently exploring the challenges and opportunities faced by Saudi women in the Tourism and Entertainment industries in Saudi Arabia as part of her PhD research.

Catheryn Khoo-Lattimore

Catheryn Khoo-Lattimore is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management, Griffith University. Catheryn’s current research interest is in tourist and guest behaviour, with a passionate focus on women, families and young children. She is also particularly interested in understanding these segments from an Asian perspective, and how Asian tourists’ travel experience and behaviours differ cross-culturally.

Elaine Chiao Ling Yang

Elaine Chiao Ling Yang is a Lecturer in the Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management, Griffith University. Elaine’s research interest is in Asian tourism, gender, solo consumer and tourist risk perception. Elaine has co-published two edited books on Asian tourism. Her works have also been published in Tourism Management, Journal of Travel Research and Current Issues in Tourism.