Making the decision to start working and beginning what I hope will be a long and prosperous career has been extremely difficult. We mothers have two options to choose from-to stay at home or to work - and no one choice is better or more rewarding than the other.

I have chosen to become a working mother but that does not mean that I have chosen my career over my child, or that I love my child any less than a mother who has chosen to stay at home. It simply means that besides motherhood, I have other needs and objectives. However, these needs will never outweigh my child's needs.

All the same, I constantly ask myself: Will my nine-hour-a-day absence affect my child? And I constantly reassure myself: of course it will affect her, but it will not harm her. If anything, it will teach her, at young age, the value of work. Furthermore, she will see that her mother is a strong woman and will take comfort in and be proud of my independence.

So what of our Saudi society? Why is it so much harder for married women to work than men and single women? Some argue that married women should not be allowed to work because they would neglect their children. As if a woman could simply have a child and then forget about it, abandoning it in order to play grown-up with other adults! These are the same people who argue that family planning is outrageous. They insist that a wife's job is to have babies until she is absolutely unable. But when these oh-so-wise people were asked how a woman should balance such a fruitful motherhood with a career, they simply remarked: "Well she shouldn't have gotten married in the first place." 

Ironically, it turns out, the fact that our Saudi society pressures women to be "baby machines" and frowns upon women working alongside men actually forces women to bypass marriage and family all together in order to establish a career.

Another problem, only recently addressed, is the lack of daycare in the Saudi society. Although steps are being taken in that direction, it is disappointing that it has taken so long. Current regulation states that if there are over 50 women working for a company (in the same building) then daycare is mandatory. It is a great first step and hopefully more will be made soon.

The trend of having babies later on in life is also apparent in Saudi Arabia, though I can only comment on what I have witnessed personally.  More and more, women are not getting married right after graduation, and are entering the work force instead. Women have started realizing that they should not rush into having children, that they should make the best out of their 20s that they can have their cake and eat it too! They are realizing that they can still have children and a husband at a later date. They are realizing that by getting married later, they are bound to have fewer children than women who start having children in their teens. 

Some women have pushed marriage off their plates all together. They can do as they please with no serious repercussions, as the worst result is being labeled as a spinster. Many women are choosing spinsterhood because it is the lesser of two evils.  Many feel that it is better to live indefinitely with one's parents then have a man control you.  

Luckily, women in my country are realizing that these personal choices are for them to make and no one else. Working does not make a woman less of a good mother or wife, and our current generation of women is not only accepting but also encouraging a more active role for women in the work force. Archaic opinions are gradually fading away and slowly but surely women are beginning to understand and enjoy a life with fewer limitations and more options. Saudi Arabia is a country that has rapidly developed over the years in many aspects and I am so thankful that women are finally catching up.