Progress Amid Resistance

438 WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICAensures the right to counsel, and requires a public trial and public an -nouncement of the verdict (Article 182).ECONOMIC RIGHTS AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITYIn Saudi Arabia, obstacles to women’s economic independence and workop portunities have not been adequately addressed, especially as womencontinue to graduate with university degrees in greater numbers than theirmale counterparts and seek professional employment. Government effortsto support women’s legal right to work are in reality ambiguous, givingcomfort to those who believe that women should stay at home as well as tothose who demand the right to pursue economic independence.Islamic law provides women with the right to own and manage theirproperty and other assets, including real estate, the mahr, inheritance, in -vestments, and earned income. The distribution of inheritance is fixed ac -cording to Shari’a, and women are generally entitled to half the amountallocated to a male relative who is equally distant in relationship to the de -ceased. In practice, women’s ability to manage their own assets and to earnan income are restricted by a combination of social customs and religiousvalues that have been incorporated into the kingdom’s commercial regulations,codes of public conduct, and the minds of the bureaucrats whoadminister them. Gender segregation in the workplace, government ministriesand offices, retail establishments, hotels, restaurants, recreationalfacilities, and banks greatly affects women’s ability to manage and makeuse of their own assets. Until 2005 a woman could not legally obtain acommercial license for a business without proving first that she had hireda male manager, and she needed permission from her guardian to go intobusiness or take out a bank loan. 42The female employment rate in Saudi Arabia is among the lowest in theworld and, specifically, the Middle East. Statistics on women’s economicactivity vary somewhat depending on the source. According to the Ministryof Economy and Planning, women constituted only 5.4 per cent of the totalSaudi workforce in 2005, a figure that was expected to rise to 14.2 percentby the end of the 2005–09 five-year development plan. 43 Governmentsponsoredprojects aimed to increase women’s economic opportunitieshave repeatedly failed to reach targets in the past. The five-year developmentplan anticipates tripling the rate of women’s employment within the