Saudi Arabia: Dammam’s personal status court has been paving the way for the empowerment of women working in similar centers throughout Saudi Arabia.

The Eastern Province city court now operates with an all-female staff of 116 and authorities have plans to offer the same employment opportunities to women at all the Kingdom’s personal status courts. 

Nourah Al-Ghonaim, director of women’s administration at the Ministry of Justice, said the move was part of a restructuring program to gradually replace male clerical workers with females to carry out a range of admin duties.

“We now have 100 percent female staff members, as the employees in all the departments and sections of the personal status court in Dammam are women,” she added.

She pointed out that prior to the restructuring, the Dammam court employed only six female members of staff. “The number has jumped to 116 in only six months.”

And Al-Ghonaim noted that most of the female court workers held bachelor’s or master’s degrees.

“They are well-qualified staff members with degrees in Islamic Shariah, law, administration, and sociology. Over the six-month period, these employees have accomplished 107,000 job tasks,” she said.

The women provide a range of operational and management services.

“They have received several training courses on clerical work, work systems in the personal status courts, and others related to the nature of their work in such courts.

“Over the last six months, the ministry has trained the female workers according to plans to enable them to serve in the personal status courts and their administrative departments.

“This is all in line with the new restructuring plan that targets all the country’s personal status courts,” Al-Ghonaim added.