Women drive fast train to Mecca as Saudi workforce evolves | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
July 11, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2025
Women drive fast train to Mecca as Saudi workforce evolves

Middle East

BSS/AFP
29 January, 2023, 02:10 pm
Last modified: 29 January, 2023, 02:13 pm

Related News

  • Saudi crown prince meets Iranian foreign minister in Jeddah
  • Low-skilled Saudi jobs getting tougher for Bangladeshis amid mandatory certification, poor salary
  • Grand Mosque’s Friday sermon translated into 35 languages
  • 32,370 Hajj pilgrims return from Saudi Arabia
  • Overseas employment back in flow as Saudi recruitment picks up in May

Women drive fast train to Mecca as Saudi workforce evolves

BSS/AFP
29 January, 2023, 02:10 pm
Last modified: 29 January, 2023, 02:13 pm
Photo: Collected
Photo: Collected

Driver Tharaa Ali takes her seat at the helm of a high-speed train ferrying pilgrims to Mecca, a beneficiary of conservative Saudi Arabia's bid to employ its booming female workforce.

Saudi women only gained the right to drive in 2018, and until recently 25-year-old Ali's transportation experience was limited to cruising around her native Jeddah in the family sedan.

But last year she joined some 28,000 applicants vying for just 32 slots for women drivers on the Haramain High Speed Railway, which plies the 450-kilometre (280-mile) route between the holy cities of Mecca and Medina at speeds of up to 300 kilometres (186 miles) per hour.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

To her astonishment, the former English teacher was among the lucky few selected, and she completed her first trip last month.

"The first day working here was like a dream for me -- entering the train, entering the cabin," she told AFP.

"When you are in the cabin, you see things heading towards you at a very high speed. A feeling of fear and dread came over me, but thank God, with time and intensive training, I became confident in myself."

The proportion of Saudi women in the workforce has more than doubled since 2016, from 17 percent to 37 percent.

The statistic feeds a narrative of expanding women's rights under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, even amid ramped-up repression of activists, making it a reliable applause line at events like the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Yet unemployment among Saudi women is high -- 20.5 percent last year, compared to 4.3 percent for Saudi men.

That figure, much like the flood of applicants for the driver positions, highlights an urgent task facing Saudi policymakers: creating jobs for all the women newly interested in participating in a changing economy.

"The challenge has shifted," said Saudi economist Meshal Alkhowaiter, "from encouraging women to join the workforce, to creating a sufficient number of jobs to employ the thousands of Saudi women entering the workforce every quarter."

Winning over sceptics

Saudi women have traditionally thrived in select fields like education and medicine.

Yet rules introduced in recent years barring workplace gender discrimination and easing dress code restrictions have created new opportunities.

That includes positions as waiters, baristas and hotel receptionists that were previously dominated by foreigners, a boon to the government's "Saudization" agenda.

Social mores don't always keep up with changing regulations, however, something the women train drivers have seen firsthand.

Raneem Azzouz, a recent recruit, said that at the end of one trip to Medina, a woman passenger explained that she didn't believe women could do the job until she saw it with her own eyes.

"She said: 'Frankly, when I saw the (job) advertisement, I was totally against it. I said that if my daughter was going to drive me, I wouldn't ride with her,'" Azzouz recalled.

With the journey safely completed, the woman gushed that Azzouz had "proved herself" and that she "didn't feel any difference".

The women drivers are "highly qualified and proved their worth during training," said Rayan al-Harbi, executive vice president of the Saudi Railway Company.

"This is evidence that Saudi women have full capacity when they are empowered to perform tasks like their brothers."

Passengers 'thank me'

Not everyone is convinced.

Mohammed Issa, an Emirati civil servant who recently rode the high-speed train to Jeddah airport, said women should focus on homemaking.

"If the woman devotes herself to her home, there is no doubt that it will be a successful family," he said.

"But if the woman is absent from home, and work certainly keeps her away from the home, who will play her role?"

Such statements appear to represent a minority view among Saudis, said Sussan Saikali of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

"There have been some comments from men claiming that women are now taking their jobs, but those comments are few and far between," she said.

"We can't expect a whole population to support every policy in the country," said Najah Alotaibi, associate fellow at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies.

"But the majority of people are supportive of change."

As they settle into their new jobs, the women conductors are focusing on the positive feedback they receive, including from passengers who request selfies at the end of each trip.

"Every time I finish my journey, when I get off the train and meet the passengers, they greet me saying, 'Thank you, thank God for safety,'" Ali said.

"They thank me that it was a smooth journey."

World+Biz

Mecca / Saudi Arabia

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • How tender rules and a lone bidder stall a $2.5b power plant
    How tender rules and a lone bidder stall a $2.5b power plant
  • Bangladesh and US hold tariff talks for second day on 9July 2025. Photo: CA Press Wing
    35% tariff: Bangladesh, US 'reach general consensus on some issues' on second day of talks; final round today
  • BNP senior leader Salahuddin Ahmed. Photo: Collected
    No scope for electoral alliance with Jamaat, door not closed for NCP: BNP's Salahuddin

MOST VIEWED

  • Photo: Mohammad Minhaj Uddin/TBS
    SSC, equivalent results: Pass rate drops to 68.45%, GPA-5 also declines
  • In terms of stream of education, girls maintained their excellence as well. Photo: TBS
    SSC 2025: Girls dominate boys by over 5%
  • Govt vehicle purchase, foreign trip, new building construction banned: Finance ministry
    Govt vehicle purchase, foreign trip, new building construction banned: Finance ministry
  • Students sit for SSC exam at Motijheel Girls' High School on 10 April 2025. Photo: Mehedi Hasan/TBS
    SSC exam results out: Here's how you can check online and via SMS
  • The overall pass rate across all boards this year, 68.45%, is significantly lower than last year's. Photo: Focus Bangla
    SSC 2025: Rajshahi board records highest pass rate, Barishal lowest
  • Representational image. Photo: Collected
    35% tariff: Bangladesh, US 'agree on most issues' as first day of talks ends

Related News

  • Saudi crown prince meets Iranian foreign minister in Jeddah
  • Low-skilled Saudi jobs getting tougher for Bangladeshis amid mandatory certification, poor salary
  • Grand Mosque’s Friday sermon translated into 35 languages
  • 32,370 Hajj pilgrims return from Saudi Arabia
  • Overseas employment back in flow as Saudi recruitment picks up in May

Features

Photo: Collected/BBC

What Hitler’s tariff policy misfire can teach the modern world

17h | The Big Picture
Illustration: TBS

Behind closed doors: Why women in Bangladesh stay in abusive marriages

20h | Panorama
Purbachl’s 144-acre Sal forest is an essential part of the area’s biodiversity. Within it, 128 species of plants and 74 species of animals — many of them endangered — have been identified. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/TBS

A forest saved: Inside the restoration of Purbachal's last Sal grove

20h | Panorama
Photo: Rajib Dhar/TBS

11 July 2024: Riot vehicles, water cannons hit the streets as police crack down on protesters

13h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

India is strengthening ties with Israel

India is strengthening ties with Israel

22m | TBS World
'Hypocrisy' will not continue, Iran tells IAEA

'Hypocrisy' will not continue, Iran tells IAEA

16h | TBS World
OpenAI to release web browser in challenge to Google Chrome

OpenAI to release web browser in challenge to Google Chrome

16h | TBS World
Will the title 'Honorable and Excellency' be abolished?

Will the title 'Honorable and Excellency' be abolished?

17h | TBS Today
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net