Education
Approximately 71% to 78% of females are literate, in comparison to 85% literacy rates in males. More women receive secondary- and tertiary-education than men. Fifty percent of working women have a college education, compared to 16 percent of working men. In contrast, in 1970, only 2% of women were literate (compared to 15% of men).
According to a UNESCO report, the percentage of women graduating from universities is higher than in Western countries.
The quality of education is lower for females than males. Curricula and textbooks are updated less frequently, and teachers tend to be less qualified. At the higher levels, males have better research facilities.
One of the official educational policies is to promote "belief in the One God, Islam as the way of life, and Muhammad as God's Messenger." Official policy particularly emphasizes religion in the education of girls: "The purpose of educating a girl is to bring her up in a proper Islamic way so as to perform her duty in life, be an ideal and successful housewife and a good mother, ready to do things which suit her nature such as teaching, nursing and medical treatment." Policy also specifies "women's right to obtain suitable education on equal footing with men in light of Islamic laws."
Saudi women often specify education as the most important area for women's rights reform.
Read more about this topic: Women's Rights In Saudi Arabia
Famous quotes containing the word education:
“An acquaintance with the muses, in the education of youth, contributes not a little to soften the manners. It gives a delicate turn to the imagination, and a kind of polish to the mind in severer studies.”
—Samuel Richardson (1689–1761)
“The education of females has been exclusively directed to fit them for displaying to advantage the charms of youth and beauty. ... though well to decorate the blossom, it is far better to prepare for the harvest.”
—Emma Hart Willard (1787–1870)
“... in the education of women, the cultivation of the understanding is always subordinate to the acquirement of some corporeal accomplishment ...”
—Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797)