Job ad for 30 women train drivers in Saudi Arabia gets 28,000 applications

Dubai: Some 28,000 Saudi women have applied for 30 vacancies for female train drivers, the Spanish-owned train company, Renfe, has announced.

The selected applicants will be given a paid year training before being assigned to the job.

The jobs were clearly appealing to women, with Renfe saying that successful applicants will be given a year of paid training before taking on the duty of operating bullet trains between Mecca and Medina — a 450km journey that takes just over 4 hours.

The company said their application process, which requires applicants to undertake an online assessment of academic background and English language skills, has cut down the number of candidates to roughly half.

Commentators believe the explosive number of applicants demonstrates the demand from women hoping to work in the Muslim country, which receives frequent criticism from international bodies for its lack of gender equality.

Four years ago, Saudi Arabia changed its laws and introduced reforms to allow women to drive.

Job opportunities for Saudi women have until recently been limited to roles such as teachers and medical workers, as they had to observe strict gender segregation rules.

Female participation in the workforce has nearly doubled in the last five years to 33% amid a drive by the Saudi leadership to open up the kingdom and diversify the economy, and women are now taking up jobs once restricted to men and expat workers.

But the proportion of women working in the kingdom was still around half that of men in the third quarter of last year, at 34.1%, and female unemployment was well over three times higher than for men, at 21.9%.

- With inputs from Reuters