The Contribution of M-government to Women’s Empowerment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi government has recently introduced several measures to precipitate the entry of Saudi women into the workforce. This has been part of their Vision 2030 plan to diversify the Saudi economy. One of these measures has been to remove the legal requirement for Saudi women to have permission from their wali (male guardian) to take actions that affect their own and their children’s lives. This means that since 2019, Saudi women could finally make independent use of government services such as applying for passports and driving licences, or obtaining family cards in their own names which allow them to register their children in schools or obtain healthcare. They could also do this privately through their own mobile phones.
This study has therefore been conducted at a significant moment in Saudi Arabia’s socio-cultural history, and through using Sen’s Capability Approach (CA), seeks to explore the extent to which this new access to m-government provides empowerment opportunities for women. The study is conducted in two phases, firstly through interviews with 30 Saudi women; and secondly through focus groups with Saudi widows and divorcees, as the latter can be identified as often having particular disadvantages and difficulties with wilayah (male guardianship).
The results of the first phase suggests that women are empowered by independent use of m-government in a number of important domains: social, economic, cultural, political, informational and religious. In spite of this, there are important socio-cultural ‘conversion factors’ that are reported as hindering Saudi women from making use of m-government services for empowerment; such as traditional religious and cultural values and resistance by some male guardians and other relatives; as well as technical issues with the m-government apps, internet connectivity or a lack of digital literacy skills. The second phase of the study revealed that some women found it difficult to take responsibility for conducting affairs that they had always previously had to rely on men to do for them and to ask permission for, or else they felt that it was wrong to do this. However, most wanted to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by m-government services and some were getting help from their daughters to navigate the applications and showing other women how to use them.
This study addresses how Saudi women make use of the opportunities afforded by m-government and explores the ‘conversion factors’ hindering their access to these opportunities. Taking a qualitative approach means that the thesis provides an insight into Saudi women’s experiences in their own voices. The focus groups in particular allow Saudi widows and divorcees to tell their own very moving stories of their struggles and how they are using m-government to gain more agency over their own and their children’s lives. The thesis makes some significant theoretical and practical contributions in relation to Saudi m-government and women’s empowerment and makes a number of recommendations for further study.