The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been spared the unrest that recently swept many of its neighbors in the Middle East. Although many perceive that the Saudi royal family has maintained a high degree of both legitimacy and stability, the country faces many of the same socioeconomic ills that helped spark uprisings elsewhere in the region: a massive youth bulge, high unemployment, an education gap, and gender inequality. Up until now, young Saudis largely ignored calls for public protests. Yet with over 60 percent of the population under the age of 30,1 shifting attitudes among youth will help determine Saudi Arabia’s course over the next decade and beyond. With this in mind, Women without Borders, a Vienna-based non-governmental organization, conducted a series of surveys targeting nearly 4,500 university students in Riyadh, Al Qassem, Dammam, and Jeddah. The surveys, conducted over a two-year period prior to the political changes now sweeping the Arab world, explored young male and female attitudes toward a wide range of social issues, including changing relationships between tradition, religion, family, and gender dynamics.

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