Hala Aldosari
Former Visiting Scholar
Hala Aldosari is a former visiting scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. She is interested in the development of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. Aldosari earned her PhD in health services research from Old Dominion University, concentrating on the epidemiology of violence against women and its adverse health outcomes in Saudi Arabia. She earned her MSc in medical science from the University of Surrey, United Kingdom.
Aldosari has worked as a medical scientist, lecturer, and an administrator in the Saudi health and education sector. She has also worked as a consultant to the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia in research and planning of the country’s national health policy and services. In 2015, she completed a fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, focusing on social determinants of women’s health and violence against women. She currently directs and maintains a women’s rights advocacy project online (www.aminah.org) and participates in advocacy efforts and community capacity building aimed at promoting women’s rights and empowerment in Saudi Arabia.
Aldosari is also a writer and a blogger, commenting on Saudi political and social affairs. Her writings have been featured in several major media outlets including The Guardian, Foreign Policy, and Al Jazeera English, among many others. Several of her writings can be found on her blogs.
Analysis
All the King’s Women: New Shura Council Members Stir Gender Debate
In the past few years, women have been increasingly assuming leadership positions in public and private sectors of Saudi Arabia. In addition to being appointed to municipal councils and the Royal Advisory Shura Council, a handful of women have now been chosen as directors of financial institutions, a dean of a university, an undersecretary for...
The Effect of Gender Norms on Women’s Health in Saudi Arabia
This paper examines the impact of inadequate health education and preventative health measures on women’s reproductive and sexual health care as well as mental health care.
Women Driving Positive Change in the Middle East
The year 2016 witnessed a dramatic economic transformation in Saudi Arabia that triggered unprecedented political changes. Vision 2030, released at the end of 2015, created a roadmap to wean Saudi Arabia off its oil-based economy. Empowering women and materializing their potentials was one of the main objectives of Vision 2030. In addition, a state-commissioned McKinsey report stressed...
Saudi Arabia’s Struggle for Sunni Leadership
Saudi Arabia’s decision to limit the authority of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV)—barring it from chasing, arresting, or interrogating suspects—was positively welcomed by commentators as an attempt “to respond to [public] grievances.” In response to gross violations committed by members of CPVPV, locals have called repeatedly to...
The Personal is Political: Gender Identity in the Personal Status Laws of the Gulf Arab States
This paper examines personal status law in the six Gulf Arab states, and the limitations PSLs impose on women’s autonomy and the role of women within the family.
May 15, 2017
Saudi Arabia’s Post-Oil Future
The euphoria that accompanied the launch of “Saudi Vision 2030” has begun to dim in the face of fundamental challenges. Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdelaziz Al-Saud’s ambitious plan to steer the country’s economy away from oil dependency and through an era of austerity seemed to offer a much-needed roadmap for overdue reforms....
5 min read