Males' attitudes towards working females in Saudi Arabia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to fill a gap in the literature on women who work in the Arab Muslim context, reflecting on the experience of Saudi Arabia. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 301 male participants completed the newly developed multidimensional aversion to women who work scale (MAWWWS). Findings – The paper reveals that Saudi males report very traditional attitudes towards working females. Moreover, the single, unemployed, young and educated Saudi males report less traditional attitudes towards working females compared with married, employed, old, and less educated ones. Age was found to the most important predictor of the males' attitudes towards working females. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the knowledge in several grounds. First, it validates the MAWWW scale in a Muslim Arab country, Saudi Arabia. Second, it contributes to the knowledge of the topic of women's employment in Saudi Arabia, which is understudied in academia.