As Saudi women now drive, car workshops welcome female staff

CAR workshops and repair centres are now accepting women employees in various positions, including mobile repair services, in Saudi Arabia, Al-Madina newspaper reported.

Women can work as mechanics, receptionists and call centre staff, in addition to marketing jobs.

Investors expect the revenue of car workshops and repair centres to increase by 30 percent. Women driving will open new opportunities for females to work in car repair shops but they must be trained first.

Investor, Fahd Al-Bugamy, said up until now, women were only able to work as receptionists and marketers in car workshops and repair centers.

“With the lifting of the ban on women driving and with more workshops being moved from residential areas to industrial zones, the demand for women mechanics will increase to serve female clients,” said Al-Bugamy.

The Chief Executive Officer of Saudi Japanese High Institute, Salem Al-Asmari, said the number of women applying to work in the institute had increased in recent weeks.

“We will be in need of women mechanics in the near future. We already need as much manpower as we can get to serve the increasing number of customers. We are currently studying the possibility of hiring women mechanics who are qualified for the job,” Al-Asmari said.

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Huda Ali, who works at a car dealership, said there was the need to make women mechanics available to serve female drivers now that women would be driving on highways and they might need roadside assistance.

In a related development, a flight school in Saudi Arabia is opening its doors for women, following the end of a decades-long driving ban.

Oxford Aviation Academy, a leading trainer and crew recruiter, has already received applications from hundreds of women hoping to start lessons in September at a new branch in the eastern city of Dammam.

“People used to travel abroad (to study aviation), which was difficult for women more than men,” said applicant Dalal Yashar, who aspires to work as a civil pilot.

“We are no longer living in the era were women were allowed (to work) in limited arenas. All avenues are now opened for women. If you have the appetite, you have the ability,” she said.

The academy is part of a $300 million project that includes a school for aircraft maintenance and an international center for flight simulators at the airport.

Students receive three years of academic and practical training, said executive director, Othman Al-Moutairy.

A decades-long ban on women driving was lifted last month, as part of sweeping reforms pushed by Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defence, aimed at transforming the economy and opening up more opportunities for women.