Job Spectrum

Minister of Culture and Info Abdul Aziz Khoja expounded in a meeting at the Riyadh Book Fair that he wouldn't refuse to designate a lady as an editor in chief should media establishments so counsel. He stressed that qualifications and not sex is what would rule the problem.The editor in CEO of Shams paper, Khalid Al-Darraj, disagreed.

He highlighted that leadership jobs, especially in the media, trusted the power to have space and opportunity for traveling, late conferences and being on the move a lot of the time that would naturally limit a lady in a conservative society like ours.

He announced in the Arab media, ladies in the most senior positions were few in number. In the last thirty years, in the Dominion , only a few girls have achieved the position of editor which tells us a lot about the roles and opportunities for girls in general, Al-Darraj related.

Jameel Al-Thiabi, editor in head honcho of Al-Hayat paper declined the point of social limitations, exclaiming that ladies reporters exist in each country, taking stands and establishing that they can perform as competently as men. He thinks that ladies were in prominent positions in the media long before the minister's green light.

Al-Thiabi pointed out, Sayidaty mag had a female editor in chief many years back, and now Rotana mag has one.And in some media establishments, there are whole departments run by women. He noted that girls held senior positions in both west and east, and that Saudi girls were also prepared and qualified to do so.

Although Al-Thiabi accepts that editor in chief positions come with responsibilities, he asserts they're also respected ones which shouldn't be the key, or the sole, purpose of ladies. We should look from a broader viewpoint, targeting at girls being on boards of directors in those institutions, he claimed. Al-Thiabi stressed that Saudi ladies should take an opportunity on opportunities given to her, show that she is actually capable of doing the job and therefore maintain her position.