Saudi Arabia's First Female CFO

Also, we have the globalization. Internet, television … that drives towards change. And, of course, we have the support of the government and that support of the government has helped us to step another step forward. The government is making more and more reforms that have made it easier for us to participate in the workforce. We are asked to come into companies, the government has asked women to participate in the governmental sectors, so this has pulled women into the workforce.

The women themselves want the change from inside. If you clearly want that change, you want to make a better future for your children, for your daughters, then you won't push for that change.

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LS: Now there have been specific decisions such as the newfound ability of women to stay in hotels without a guardian [under a January 2008 ruling]. What impact does a decision like that have?

SAK: Maybe somebody coming from outside would see that decision as very trivial. Women not being allowed to stay in a hotel without a guardian, that's very trivial for somebody from the outside. But we see it as a very big milestone because that means that women have been given a kind of independence and that independence comes little by little. So being able to stay in a hotel without a guardian will lead to women being able to travel without a guardian.

All of the steps that are coming will come at their own stride. When it was permitted for women to stay in hotels without a guardian it came because in order for them to participate in the workforce, they saw the need to liberate women from some of the obstacles.

LS: But what are some of those obstacles you have to get around? Can you go to court and file your own deals?

SAK: When you have a company you don't have to do these things yourself. Any filing, any court papers, you don't deal with them yourself. You have somebody else who deals with them, so I don't see them as obstacles.

I work along with all of the men as a partner, equal partner. I do my work, I travel inside and outside, I don't see anything as an obstacle, because any obstacle you see you have a way of working around it. That's what we've done throughout these years, we have worked around the obstacles.

Of course, what happens is when you're dealing with some parties who are not as accepting towards women, you have a way of working around that. You deal with our own work, your operations and that's what I'm dealing with.