Last week, Saudi Arabia’s Public Prosecution Office confirmed in a statement that it would soon start recruiting women as investigators for the first time ever.
"Vacancies are available in women's positions on the staff of the Public Prosecution for the rank of Lieutenant Investigator," the Public Prosecution Office posted on its official Twitter account.
In order to qualify for the openings, applicants should be Saudi citizens and hold a degree in Sharia or IT from one of the kingdom’s universities.
The move follows an announcement in January by the Saudi Ministry of Justice that it plans to recruit 300 women as social researchers, administrative assistants, Islamic jurisprudence researchers, and legal researchers.
The first time in the history of Saudi Arabia that such a plan has been announced...
The applicants are required to sit through an exam and be holders of a master's degree in relevant areas of study.
Those who qualify will be employed in five main cities: Riyadh; Jeddah; Dammam in the Eastern Province and the two holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.
Over the past few years, a series of reforms were initiated in the kingdom to further empower the female members of society.
Notable among these moves was a royal decree issued by King Salman in September 2017 to allow women to drive from June 2018.
The 'Vision 2030' roadmap for the future, spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, aims to increase the percentage of women in the workforce.
Addressing women's rights is also a major goal of the crown prince's agenda, which aims to transform Saudi Arabia into a kingdom promoting "moderate Islam".
Last month, the General Directorate of Passports (GDP) said that it had received an overwhelming response to a job advertisement for women to work in airports and land border crossings.
As many as 107,000 women applied for the 140 vacancies advertised by the directorate. According to officials, the directorate’s website was visited more than 600,000 times, especially to check on the job vacancies.
At the time, Dr. Waleed Al-Samaani, the Minister of Justice and Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council, said that the ministry was keen to open the door to women "because they would be of great importance in facilitating the provision of services to beneficiaries in the judicial and documentary field".
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has made significant progress in improving women's rights
Although Saudi Arabia is often criticized internationally for its treatment of women, in the past few years, significant progress has been made.
The kingdom has amended a number of laws in an effort to empower women. These include opening municipal elections to female candidates and making women's verbal consent to marriage mandatory.
In addition, in January, Saudi Arabia allowed women to enter a football stadium for the first time ever to watch a game.
Furthermore, a few days ago, the kingdom’s Ministry of Commerce and Investment officially announced that women will no longer need their male guardian’s permission to start a business.
Laws governing travel documents and giving women their right to obtain a passport without male permission were also amended.