Abstract

Over the past three decades, many developing countries have undertaken economic reforms including trade liberalization policies, and there has been increasing interest in the gender impact of these reforms. As with any other economic policy, trade policies are likely to have gender disparities because of the access and control of women and men to different resources and their different roles in both the market economy and the family. This study aims to contribute to the existing literature by studying the relationship between the increasing openness to international trade (resulting from trade liberalization) and the change in the employment opportunities of women in the Saudi market under the vision of the Kingdom (2030) compared to the rest of the Gulf countries. What are the effects of increased trade openness on various economic sectors in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the GCC? To study the relationship between economic variables, the researcher used the statistical program (Eviews(. The results of the analysis showed that the effect of Saudi Arabia's trade openness on the female unemployment rate was positive during the period from 1991 to 2017. It is noteworthy that this effect is random and is due to factors other than the index of openness in Saudi Arabia. With regard to the participation of women in the agricultural and industrial sectors, the effect of Saudi Arabia was found to be reversed. This means that women in Saudi Arabia are less involved in the agricultural and industrial sector. This effect is random and is not linked to the index of openness in Saudi Arabia. With regard to the participation of women in the service sector, the impact on Saudi Arabia was positive, which means that women in Saudi Arabia are more involved in the service sector compared to the rest of the GCC countries. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia came first in this field, This effect is consistent with Saudi Arabia's trade openness index.