A rising generation of young Saudi women is caught between a government spending billions to educate and employ them, and a deeply conservative religious society that fiercely resists women in the workplace. Unemployment among Saudi women who want to work is 34 percent - almost five times as great as the 7 percent unemployment rate for men, according to government figures. Those unemployed women are disproportionately college-educated. Of Saudis receiving unemployment benefits, 86 percent are women, and 40 percent of those women have college degrees. Saudi women have traditionally worked in fields such as medicine, nursing, and teaching. It is still unusual to see a woman working in public anywhere other than shop, and even then mostly in shops that cater to women by selling clothing, lingerie, or groceries. King Abdullah's government is trying to open more jobs for women, in some cases by urging employers to create gender-segregated work areas in factories and other businesses. It also trying to encourage the private sector to hire more Saudis, male and female, for jobs that have traditionally gone to foreigners.
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