Saudi Women Were Never Starting from Zero

Saudi women’s expanding opportunities make headlines. The schools that helped prepare them receive less attention. That is why Princess Lulwah Al-Faisal’s recent interview with Arab News resonated with me. Her argument that education and security depend on each other has a personal connection: I attended Dar Al-Hanan, the school her mother, Queen Effat, founded in Jeddah in 1955.

Born and educated in Istanbul, Queen Effat visited Saudi Arabia in 1932 on a pilgrimage with her aunt. During that visit, she met Prince Faisal, the future king, whom she married that year. With her husband’s support, she turned her belief in girls’ education into institutions built to last. That required conviction at a time when the idea faced opposition. In 1959, during King Saud’s reign, a royal order authorised the opening of government schools for girls. Faisal, then Crown Prince and prime minister, played an important role in supporting that policy and addressing resistance to it. The state was taking responsibility for extending girls.

Queen Effat’s educational work continued with Effat College, established in 1999, which later became Effat University. The university’s collaboration with CERN, discussed in the interview, illustrates the distance between those early efforts and the scientific ambitions of today.

It is tempting to tell the story of Saudi women through its most visible milestones: an appointment, a business established, a profession entered. These deserve attention. But behind them lies the quieter work of teachers and families who took girls’ ambitions seriously long before those ambitions made news.

Schools shape expectations as well as examination results. They teach a girl whether her questions deserve an answer, whether her abilities warrant investment and whether her future merits careful thought. Their influence can take decades to become apparent. By then, the school’s part in the story is easily forgotten.

Princess Lulwah’s connection between education and security is useful here. A country’s resilience depends partly on people who can assess information, exercise judgement and contribute to their communities. These habits develop through teaching and practice. Their value lasts beyond a qualification or a first job.

Today, Saudi women’s presence in the workplace gives that educational investment a visible expression. The institutions preparing the next generation are changing, too. New campuses and advanced technology offer possibilities that earlier students could scarcely have imagined. Yet the newest facilities do not necessarily provide the best education. A well-equipped classroom still needs a capable teacher, a demanding curriculum and thoughtful guidance. Established and newer institutions alike have to earn the confidence placed in them.

As a Saudi woman and a Dar Al-Hanan alumna, I see today’s progress as part of a longer story. Remembering Queen Effat’s contribution helps explain the preparation behind it. Her legacy offers a useful test for old and new institutions alike: the quality of an education rests on what students learn, not on the buildings in which they learn it.

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