Positive discrimination is institutionalised in employment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as it is in all of the GCC states. However, as the most populous of the Gulf states and with more than half of its population under the age of 25, an educated but underutilised female workforce, and a private sector dominated by expatriate workers, Saudi Arabia faces a unique set of problems in maintaining a competitive economy and workforce in the face of the plummeted oil price. 