TITLE:
Exploring the Relevance of Appropriate Training in Digital Education for Women’s Employment in Saudi Arabia
AUTHORS:
Nailah Hassan Gadi
KEYWORDS:
Digital Technology, Women’s Employment, Vocational Training, Digital Competencies, IT, Education, Careers, Skills: Saudi Arabia
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Business and Management,
Vol.9 No.6,
November
24,
2021
ABSTRACT: This research explores the need for an appropriate training in digital
technology on women’s employment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This research
area is currently of great value and interest because of the dramatic
technology-driven changes that are taking place worldwide. This is particularly
the case in Saudi Arabia, where technology is being promoted by the Saudi
government as cornerstone of economic development. This study has adopted a methodology based on the structuration
theory to explore the complexity involved in the subject matter which
warranted the selection of participants from three key social structures:
government, businesses and academic institutions and the results of
semi-structured interviews with 40 participants guided the researcher to derive
important findings presented in this study. The study found that the aura of
cooperation between academic institutions and businesses exists in Saudi Arabia for training and up-skilling female
students and women employees. The results showed that universities are willing
to provide library services and allocation of slots on different courses
dedicated for female employees in industries, while the stakeholders from
different industries in this study showed prospects for accepting female
students in the internships programs allowing them to complete their final year projects in digital technologies. These
arrangements raise the potential of equipping women with digital skills
and training, so that they can participate in the labour-market created by the
digital technologies. The study also found that academic institutions have in
place good arrangements for providing training in vocational fields such as
applied science, pharmacology, public health sector and IT. The study
recommends that the participation rate of women to take up the vocational education and training opportunities should be
increased through incentive program by Saudi government for women and
arrangement of employers arranged workshops aiming to raise the awareness among
women about the need of vocational education and training in digital
technologies.