"&China cylindrical grinder Manufacturers39;Better educated, less employed, underpaid'Prince Mohammed's Vision 2030 reform plan for a post-oil era seeks to elevate women to nearly one-third of the workforce, up from about 22 per cent now.When Bukhari, 43 and a mother of four, was promoted as supervisor of a gas station in eastern Khobar city in October 2017, insults began pouring in on social media with the hashtag "Saudi women don't work at gas stations".Bukhari, previously employed in a junior role by the same parent company, was forced to go on the defensive, telling critics she was in a managerial position and not physically handling fuel nozzles."It's a rite of passage for women.Khobar (Saudi Arabia): Mervat Bukhari, a force of nature draped head-to-toe in Islamic niqab, braved insults and taunts to become the first Saudi woman to work at a gas station, something unimaginable not long ago.Horror stories have regularly surfaced."The well-known expression: 'You are a woman, cover your face' seems to be disappearing from our society," human rights lawyer Abdulrahman al-Lahim wrote recently in the pro-government Okaz newspaper.Saudi Arabia also recently annulled the "house of obedience" article in the marriage law, which grants a husband the right to summon his wife to his home against her will.But women face sobering realities -- despite often being better qualified than men.

The reforms have seen the Saudi labour market slowly open up to women, introducing them to jobs that were once firmly the preserve of men."If I could choose between the right to drive or the right to end guardianship, I would choose the latter," a women's activist said on the condition of anonymity.But the backlash faced by women like Bukhari illustrates how newfound empowerment is a potential social lightning rod in a country unaccustomed to such visibility for women."I am a supervisor.But the 16-year-old prefers to hide his mother's job from his peers, hoping to protect her from even more insults.'Not revolution, but evolution'Authorities appear to be slowly dismantling the many injustices against women ingrained in the law.The decision to allow women to drive after a decades-long ban could give women the much-needed mobility to join the workforce. The kingdom, where conservatives once bridled at even limited freedoms for women, is in the midst of reforms that mark the biggest cultural shake-up in its modern history."Maybe five years from now it will be normal to see women at gas stations," he said, kissing his mother's hand.Saudi women now no longer need male permission to start business."Back at Bukhari's home in neighbouring Dammam city, she embraced her youngest son Mohammed -- who stood by her even as her brothers decried her gas station job as a shocking breach of tradition.Eye on guardianshipThe reforms have had an unwitting consequence, observers note -- competition with arch-nemesis Iran to be more liberal over women's rights. I don't fill gas myself," she reasoned, seeking to win a modicum of respectability for a job that class-conscious Saudi men disdain."Women today # have the right to do any work.Tehran recently relaxed its crackdown on women failing to wear the compulsory headscarf.Government statistics also put more than one million Saudi women as currently looking to enter the workforce.Kickstarted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the reforms include the historic decision allowing women to drive from June, attend soccer games and take on jobs that once fell outside the narrow confines of traditional gender roles.The reform introduces a novel concept in married life: mutual consent.

Saudi media has championed in recent months the first woman restaurant chef, first woman veterinarian and even the first woman tour guide."Saudi women are better educated, but less mobile, less employed and vastly underpaid," Karen Young, a scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, told AFP.But Saudi activists say social change will only be cosmetic without dismantling the kingdom's rigid guardianship system, which requires that women seek permission from a male relative to study, travel and other activities."This is not a revolution, this is evolution," Hoda al-Helaissi, a member of the advisory Shura Council, told AFP, referring to newfound social liberties.Women inmates are often reported to be stuck in prisons after completing their terms because they were not claimed by their guardians.That leaves many vulnerable to the whims of a controlling father, a violent husband or a vengeful son.One Saudi woman told AFP how she was stuck in limbo, unable to even renew her passport, when her father, her only male guardian, slipped into a coma after an accident.Average monthly salaries in the private sector are close to 8,000 Saudi riyals (USD 2,134, 1,748 euros) for men, and only 5,000 riyals for women, according to research firm Jadwa.But Riyadh is seeking to change that through what appears to be social engineering.For the first time, women are seen alongside men in jazz music concerts and in mixed-gender restaurants, as the influence of the once-feared religious police -- notorious for enforcing gender segregation -- appears to be waning.Saudi Arabia ranked a low of 138 out of 144 countries in the 2017 Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum on gender parity.The social change, catalysed in large measure by what experts characterise as economic pain owing to a protracted oil slump, has introduced a series of firsts