A recent study has revealed an increase in women’s participation in the workforce by 36 percent over the past year.
The study sought to measure the impact of the Female Transportation Program (Wusool), which was launched in 2017 by the Saudi Fund for Human Resources Development (Hadaf) and Uber Company, to empower women in the private sector, increase the percentage of their participation in the labor market and enhance their job stability.
The results of study, which were revealed on Wednesday, proved the success of the program in empowering Saudi working women in the private sector over the past four years, after successfully overcoming challenges and difficulties of commuting to and from workplaces, by providing transportation trips at reasonable prices through the Uber platform and other participating transportation companies.
Wusool is one of Uber’s largest government partnerships in the world. According to the study, the program has contributed to an increase in the percentage of women’s participation in the workforce in Saudi Arabia between 2018 and 2021, from 22 to 36 percent.
The study, which was prepared by Roland Berger Global Consulting, showed that 80 percent of women, who previously relied on public transportation, admitted that the program enabled them to find more and better job opportunities.
Moreover, 21 percent of the female respondents said that the program contributed to enhancing their sense of job security, while 49 percent of the participants considered that the main benefit of Wusool was to help them save money and secure financial independence.
The study pointed out that the number of women who benefited from the program increased from 300 to about 13,000 in the first year of its launch and operation, while by late 2021, more than 120,000 women had used the program to make more than 20 million trips to and from the workplace, mostly via the Uber application.
Mohammad Qazzaz, General Manager of Uber in Saudi Arabia, said that the impact of the program was tangible, noting that it has exceeded the desired goals in increasing women’s participation in the workforce.
“We are proud that the Uber platform played a major role in achieving this... We are launching a number of initiatives aimed at increasing economic opportunities for women,” he stated.
For his part, Turki Al-Jawini, Director General of the Human Resources Development Fund, said that the program succeeded in finding solutions to the issue of mobility, which is a major challenge for employment continuity.
The various initiatives of the Human Resources Development Fund have helped boost the percentage of women’s participation in economic development to more than 30%, he underlined.
