Al-Faiz, Norah

Norah al-Faiz is Saudi Arabia's Deputy Minister for Women's Education. She is the first woman to hold a cabinet ministry position in the country's history. Her appointment was widely hailed as evidence of King Abdullah's reformist goals, but some feminists, skeptical of how much power will actually be given to a woman, caution against seeing the appointment as the beginning of significant advances in women's rights. al-Faiz also has been careful not to present herself as a challenger of Saudi conservatism.

al-Faiz graduated from King Saud University in Riyadh in 1978 with a baccalaureate degree in sociology. She did graduate work in the United States, earning a master's in education from Utah State University in 1982. She worked as a teacher in Saudi Arabia before moving ...