Women in Health Care
Hospitals were among the first institutions in Saudi Arabia to create mixed-gender work environments, in part because women have long dominated many health-care specialties like nursing. Saudi patients in good hospitals in urban areas have gotten used to female doctors, and to seeing women in positions of authority. "People used to say, 'Why is she working? Why does she need money?' Now they say, 'It takes a woman to solve a problem,' " says Norah Al Malhooq, an administrator at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh.

• Saudi Arabia's Small Steps for Women
• Obama in Saudi Arabia