Saudi to hire women border guards

Saudi Arabia’s General Directorate of Border Guards has announced plans to hire women for vacant military positions.

The directorate said in a June 10 statement that interested applicants can apply online on the Abshar recruitment portal (http://jobs.sa) from Sunday until Saturday.

Security inspector roles are available in Riyadh, Jazan, Makkah, the northern border and Tabuk.

Applicants must be Saudi, well behaved, aged between 25 and 35, not have a criminal record and meet qualification requirements.

Other conditions include that they are at least 160cm tall for fieldwork and 155cmtall for office work, with weight proportional to their height, and not married to a non-Saudi now or in the future.

The kingdom is opening up an increasing number of government and private sector jobs to women in order to increase their economic participation.

Earlier this year, the Directorate of Public Security said it would hire female soldiers for the first time and the Public Prosecution announced plans to hire female investigative officers.

Read: Saudi government to hire first women ‘soldiers’

The lifting of a ban on women driving this month is expected to open up more job opportunities for women, who would previously have to rely on a driver or male guardian to get too and from work.

Read: Saudi starts issuing driving licences to women