The fall in global oil prices several years ago introduced economic and political pressure across the spectrum of oil exporting nations.

Gulf countries have all moved to deal with lower oil prices through the launching of their own respective long-term visions; there’s Vision 2021 in the UAE; the Kuwait National Development Plan in Kuwait, and most famously there is Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030. If successfully implemented, these ambitious plans could lead to economic diversification and an increase in female participation in the workforce.

The energy sector is the backbone of these economies and separating it from government-initiated reform is difficult. While female participation in the energy sector varies, all are in a position to make substantial progress and thus set an example for other industries to include women in their respective reforms.

Reforms are more likely to succeed when implemented from within, and assuming the necessary legislation is put in place, one can look to some of their own internal leaders as potential models for a way to move forward and make progress on ambitious initiatives that complement the overarching goal.

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 is one such challenging and ambitious transformation aimed at providing new economic opportunities for the 70 per cent of Saudis under the age of 30 as well as a greater degree of social freedom for the citizenry at large. At the heart of the plan is an effort to reduce reliance on the state as the employer of choice and generate millions of private sector jobs by attracting billions in foreign investment.

Both as a goal in and of itself and central to the success of this agenda, female employment is crucial — especially given that Saudi women are often higher educated, based on net university enrolment rates. A key goal is to boost female participation in the workforce from 22 per cent to 30, and to invest in their capabilities by providing enhanced education and training opportunities, particularly in STEM disciplines.

Saudi Arabia’s unemployment rate was 12.3 per cent in 2016, 34.5 per cent for females, leaving much room for improvement. Strict gender segregation policies have certainly been a been a major barrier to female workforce advancement but many of the recent reforms enacted by Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman — including the end of the female driving ban by June — will be enormously beneficial.

In fact, Saudi women have been some of his strongest supporters. There are some key examples of female leadership in important sectors of Saudi’s economy.

In the case of energy, Saudi Aramco hired Najat Husseini, its first female Saudi employee, as a health professional in 1964. Though the first Saudi female employee, Husseini was not the first female at the company, as it already employed American and European women.

While 85 per cent of the company’s more than 65,000 employees are Saudi, 8 per cent are women, some of whom serve at the highest levels. Nabilah al-Tunisi has been chief engineer since February, 2015.

A 35-year Aramco veteran, al-Tunisi is helping to drive the Vision 2030 diversification effort by overseeing the development of a crude oil-to-chemical plant that will produce plastics in collaboration with Saudi Basic Industries Corporation. Huda Al-Ghoson, Aramco’s then executive director of human resources, noted in 2015 that there is “a huge shortage of qualified, skilled professionals in our industry,” but there is “a huge pool of untapped talent—women.”

Energy is not the only industry where women serve in a senior role. Sarah Al Suhaimi, CEO of NCB Capital Co., was appointed in 2017 as the chair of the Saudi stock exchange, Tadawul.

The UAE is making progress in increasing female workforce participation as well. The female Emirati population has the same constitutional rights as men, founded a Gender Balance Council in 2015, and appointed women to the General National Council.

The UAE’s ambitions are high and improvement can be seen in global rankings. In Kuwait, where women have many of the same rights as men, there is some, albeit limited, female participation at senior levels of government, much remains to be done.

While much progress remains to be made, there are a handful of internal examples in backbone industries that can serve as local leaders and help drive increasing female participation in the workforce at large. Recognition that women have the capabilities and knowledge to succeed in the workforce and are necessary to be included for these nations to continue to economically prosper as they pivot away from oil- and gas-based economies is key for its success.

The success of women in key sectors represent important examples for other local industries to follow as they adapt to the changes entailed in the high level Gulf reform initiatives. This in turn can help make female participation a driving force behind the Gulf’s greater ambitions.

Bina Hussein is with Atlantic Council and Helima Croft at RBC Capital Markets.