(1281) THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION TO IMPROVE WOMEN LEADERSHIP AT ORGANIZATIONS: THE CASE OF SAUDI ARABIA

摘要

Saudi women find many obstacles that avoid them reaching leadership positions in the organizations.The social perspective, the values and the culture are some arguments that impede that womenoccupy leadership positions. In this research, education, one of the organizational factors that promotethe success of women in general and Saudi women in particular is considered.According to the statistics coming from the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia, a positive evolutionin terms of education has taken place for women in comparison to men. The number of womengraduated at the University has reached a 60% in year 2014.This improvement in education has not been translated into higher rates of women's employment andentrepreneurship initiatives in the country. Compared to men, women represent a 17% of the wholeemployment rate and it means the lowest rate in the world. Only a 12% of women are entrepreneurscompared to a 21% of men in the region.Women face important obstacles to reach leadership positions in their professional paths. Someauthors describe how the cultural context where the education takes place impact in women and menexpectations, even though their academic background. Some previous analyses show a positiverelationship between the level of education at leadership levels and the organizational results.Education is therefore important to reach leadership positions at organizations.The main objective of this paper is to analyze if higher degrees of education in women imply higherlevels of success in the organization based in a group of reasons derived from the literature reviewand in an empirical analysis developed in the Saudi Arabian context. Discussion can be of interest sothat government agencies can help to reinforce the education initiatives oriented to women thatpromote women leadership.