Maryam: A Saudi Woman’s Journey from Shadow to Light at the Heart of National Transformation
In the heart of Riyadh, where ambitions turn into tangible realities, stories of women’s success are being written that redefine the role of women in Saudi society. Among these stories, the journey of “Maryam bint Abdullah Al-Husaini” stands out, who transitioned from being a teacher in a government school in the Jazan region to becoming the first Saudi woman to be entrusted with managing a sustainable development project with full government funding, in a step that is considered one of the most important achievements of the National Transformation Program 2030.
Maryam began her educational career in 2010 after graduating from Umm Al-Qura University with a degree in education, and worked in a secondary school in the city of Bisha, where she noticed a decline in academic achievement rates among female students, especially in science subjects. She did not stop at teaching, but launched a local initiative called “Noor Al-Ilm” in 2018, aimed at supporting female students from low-income families by providing books, e-books, and academic guidance sessions. According to a report issued by the Ministry of Education in 2021, the initiative contributed to raising the academic achievement rate for female students in the school from 62% to 89% within just three years.
The initiative was not just a local initiative, but it caught the attention of the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, which decided to support it with funding of 5 million riyals within the “Empowering Women in Society” program in 2020. In June 2023, Maryam was appointed as the executive director of the project, transforming it from a school initiative to a national project that extends to 14 regions, benefiting more than 12,000 female students, according to figures from the Ministry of Labor and Social Development issued in October 2023.
Maryam said in an exclusive interview with Al-Riyadh newspaper: “Education is not a luxury, but a fundamental right, and when a woman is given the opportunity to contribute consciously and in an organized manner, she does not change the life of one student, but reshapes the future of an entire society.” She added: “What we are living today is not a miracle, but the fruit of political will and institutional support that has not been granted before.”
According to a report issued by the General Authority for Statistics in the Kingdom, the percentage of women’s participation in the labor market increased from 20% in 2016 to 36% in 2023,
