The compatibility of the legal order of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with Article 11(b) CEDAW concerning women's right to the same employment opportunities and Article 11(d) CEDAW concerning equal pay.

Abstract

Abstract Equality between genders and eliminating discrimination against women is an inherent human rights and value of the UN. However, women are still discriminated against on many fronts including economic, political and social spheres. Economically, women are discriminated against especially in the employment sector where women’s global participation in the workforce is less than fifty percent while the global patriation of ales in the workforce is seventy-five percent. The statistics points towards a wage gap of more than twenty five percent on average with a high margin in some places such as MENA region. Several conventions and treaties including the CEDAW Convention have been develop to address gender discrimination in the workplace. In this dissertation, the focus was determining the compatibility of the legal order of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with Article 11(b) CEDAW concerns women’s right to the same employment opportunities and Article 11(d) CEDAW concerning equal pay. It was found that primarily, the CEDAW Convention issues positive obligations for states to develop and enforce domestic policies, regulations, laws and standards that meet the exigencies of the CEDAW Conventions. In KSA, the domestic legislations have worked towards promoting gender equality, but there are constraints stemming from the scholarly and formal interpretations of the provisions in line with the reservations outlined under the Sharia Laws.