Woman In Oman

:These days the high status Omani women enjoy is reflected in the priority accorded to them in the country’s development plans. Women account for half the Sultanate’s population and are encouraged to play their part in the country’s social and economic development alongside their male counterparts. In this situation working women require training to enable them to improve their effectiveness in the workplace. The development of rural and bedu women is of particular importance and they need support to enable them to improve their economic, social and cultural standards, as well as incentives to participate in the development process. Omani women have played a vital role in the Sultanate for as long as that society has existed. However, while they may once have been ******* to be good housewives and mothers, perhaps supplementing the family income with a little local trading or through weaving and handicrafts, they are now at the forefront of political and economic life.His Majesty Sultan Qaboos has repeatedly called upon female citizens to lend their full support to the continuing development of their country, frequently describing them as representing “half of Oman’s potential”. They have responded by seeking and securing jobs from government minister to supermarket check-out assistant, all of them striving to play a part in shaping the Sultanate of the 21st century. Oman is rightly proud to have been the first Arab country to appoint a woman as its overseas ambassador and currently three women hold positions on the Council of Ministers (with a 4th holding an *****alent role as the President of the Public Authority for Crafts Industries); another two are undersecretaries in the government. Women are playing an increasingly role with their presence in the Consultation Council (Majlis A’ Shura) and the State Council (Majlis A’ Dawla), while five female lawyers were recently appointed as attorney generals to the legislative. The Middle East region is often accused of suppressing the freedoms and the potential of its female populations. In Oman it is immediately evident to any visitor that while women often pursue the freedom to dress as they wish by choosing to wear modest attire, their potential and ambitions are far from suppressed.