SAUDI women are playing many different roles, including in the media, and the Kingdom is witnessing an evaluation in terms of the image of Saudi women. “We believe in the importance of the vital role being played by Saudi women in the development of their society,” said Zoya Sakr, the head of sales and marketing at Al-Aan TV at a round-table discussion at Jeddah's Hilton Hotel recently organized by Al-Aan TV in order to honor Saudi women working in media. The glitzy event aimed to launch a lifestyle program titled “Al Saudiyyat Ghair” (Saudi women are Different), and kicked off with a press conference that addressed the role of female journalists in Saudi Arabia, and initiated a women-focused dialogue process. “'Al Saudiyyat Ghair' aims to demonstrate the different roles played by Saudi women and to highlight their skills, talents and capabilities. It is based on practical and scientific research in order to shed light on the reality of Arab women and aims to correct the popular image. In short, it is celebrating the success of women in various fields.” She added that the Kingdom is witnessing considerable evolution in terms of the role of women, and yet the image of Saudi women is still misunderstood in the rest of the world. This new program aims to debunk all mysteries and unveil the real image of Saudi women. “It is launched with the initiative that it is dedicated to Saudi women in media and with the secondary objective to cover the issues concerning Saudi women,” she said. The episodes will focus on the manner in which a woman educates, entertains, empowers and engages aspects of life, for her betterment.” Emphasizing these values, the owner of Servo Productions, Abeer Bloch said: We met with officials at Al-Aan, who identified this vision and concept, and we encouraged them to produce this program as a result of extensive research.” As a lifestyle-based show, the program will be covering a number of issues concerning women such as health, shopping, fashion and cooking. Ultimately, the show wants people to know that Saudi women are striving to succeed and achieve their ambitions with determination and intelligence. Muna Abu Sulayman, the co-host of the popular all-women talk show “Kalam Nawa'im” that appears on MBC remarked that she thinks the role of female journalists is the same as men. “Female journalists can beautifully portray the problems people face in society,” she said. “The social reforms in the Kingdom are moving with the times and people are relying on female journalists, in particular, to explore issues for them objectively and fairly.” Muna is also working on a new program that will present the latest issues to Arab and Muslims viewers. Women journalists should be provided with more opportunities including they should be trained well professionally. There is a need of bringing a system from the ministry of culture with good strategies of hiring women and training them. “Saudi women should be provided with opportunities to travel abroad as well as they should be taken to different companies where they can see how men and women work and should be allowed to take decisions solely”, said Manal Faisal Alsharief, Editor In Chief in a Ladies Dept. Commenting on the program, Hiba Jamal the presenter of Al Saoudiyyat Gheir said:” the program met a huge success immediately after its launch. Our audience feedbacks were tremendously positive during the first month; we are looking forward to furthering our success through a purposeful and constructive approach to all issues of concern to Saudi women.”
