SArabia names first female editor-in-chief

The English-language Saudi Gazette has announced on its website that Somayya Jabarti will take the helm at the newspaper.

For the first time in Saudi Arabia, a woman has been named editor-in-chief of a daily newspaper published in the kingdom.

Her predecessor Khaled Almaeena wrote on Sunday that Jabarti has worked with him for almost 13 years and is a determined and dedicated journalist.

He wrote on Sunday in the Saudi Gazette that "it was not a question of gender but of merit that decided and earned her this opportunity".

Jabarti was formerly deputy editor-in-chief at the newspaper she now leads.

There are only a handful of journalism degrees offered to women in the kingdom and many ultraconservative clerics in Saudi Arabia argue that women should not work alongside men.