Exploring the Relevance of Appropriate Training in Digital Education for Women’s Employment in Saudi Arabia

This research explores the need for an appropriate training in digital technology on women’s employment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This research area is currently of great value and interest because of the dramatic technology-driven changes that are taking place worldwide. This is particularly the case in Saudi Arabia, where technology is being promoted by the Saudi government as cornerstone of economic development. This study has adopted a methodology based on the structuration theory to explore the complexity involved in the subject matter which warranted the selection of participants from three key social structures: government, businesses and academic institutions and the results of semi-structured interviews with 40 participants guided the researcher to derive important findings presented in this study. The study found that the aura of cooperation between academic institutions and businesses exists in Saudi Arabia for training and up-skilling female students and women employees. The results showed that universities are willing to provide library services and allocation of slots on different courses dedicated for female employees in industries, while the stakeholders from different industries in this study showed prospects for accepting female students in the internships programs allowing them to complete their final year projects in digital technologies. These arrangements raise the potential of equipping women with digital skills and training, so that they can participate in the labour-market created by the digital technologies. The study also found that academic institutions have in place good arrangements for providing training in vocational fields such as applied science, pharmacology, public health sector and IT. The study recommends that the participation rate of women to take up the vocational education and training opportunities should be increased through incentive program by Saudi government for women and arrangement of employers arranged workshops aiming to raise the awareness among women about the need of vocational education and training in digital technologies.