Home GCC Saudi Arabia Saudi women to join national day celebrations in sports stadium for first time Women were previously barred from stadiums in the kingdom by Staff Writer September 21, 2017 Saudi Arabia is allowing women into a sports stadium for the first time to attend the annual national day celebrations with their families this weekend. Families will be granted entry to King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh and seated separately from men to mark the kingdom’s 87th national day weekend, according to Saudi Press Agency (SPA). The kingdom’s general authority for entertainment told SPA that the stadium was expected to receive about 40,000 individuals. The venue and other stadiums in the kingdom were previously open to men only. Saudi authorities have recently been pushing for women to play a more active role in society and the workforce under the Vision 2030 reforms revealed last year. This has seen new job roles open to women and physical education classes offered to schoolgirls for the first time. Read: Four new job roles opened to Saudi women Read: Saudi schoolgirls to take physical education classes from September 0 Comments