Deep in the Arabian desert, hundreds of guests celebrate the birth of a city. The Saudi government has flown them in on chartered planes to the northern city of Hail, then driven them for about half an hour in buses with police escorts to a giant marquee in the sand with a red carpet out front. Inside, curtains with gold tassels adorn walls decorated with artists? renditions of Prince Abdulaziz bin Mousaed Economic City, which the government says will be home to 300,000 people when it?s built.
After prayers from the Koran, the ceremony begins with a speech by Amr Al-Dabbagh, head of the ministry that has planned the city, who wears a formal cloak with gold trim. The audience?all male, except for one woman?sips tea and plucks chocolates off silver trays.
Until recently, most Saudis haven?t needed to hold jobs. The government provides free education and health care and levies no personal income tax. An immigrant population of 6.5 million people performs almost all of the kingdom?s menial tasks. In 2007, just 4 million Saudis worked, according to the Ministry of Economy and Planning.
Only a fraction of the labour force is female, in part because of constraints placed on women by the government?s strict interpretation of Islam. They?re not allowed to mix in public with men who aren?t related to them, for instance, and are prohibited from driving cars.
With the population growing and inflation averaging 9.9% last year, there?s an economic need for more women to hold jobs. ?Unless you?re very wealthy in Saudi Arabia, you cannot maintain a comfortable standard of living without two incomes,? says John Sfakianakis, chief economist at SABB, a Riyadh-based bank. ?That is compelling women to work.?
Oil is no longer enough for Saudi Arabia, which is the largest producer in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
The country?s population has more than tripled to 25 million people from 7.3 million in 1975 ? and 57% of all Saudis are under the age of 25. As the population grows, the kingdom?s riches must be spread among more people: In 2008, per-capita gross domestic product was less than $19,000, versus $47,000 in the US and $103,000 in Qatar.