The unique event took place in capital Riyadh on Saturday, and involved women from a wide range of careers.
One of the speakers was Raha Moharrak, 31, who made history in 2013 as the first Saudi woman to climb Mount Everest.
She wanted girls to be taught that they were not less than boys.
‘My journey started as a mini-rebellion … I wanted to shock my parents,’ Moharrak told the conference, where male attendees sat behind a curtain divider.
‘I reached a certain age in my life when everyone expected me to fit into a certain box. I wasn’t ready to stop my ambition.’
Saudi mountaineer, Raha Moharrak (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)
Other speakers included Hadeel Ayoub, who invented a smart glove that converts sign language to text, and Lama Al Sulaiman, who quit after being voted on to a municipal council because she had to sit in a different room.
‘Women in leadership positions today is a must, and there should be women everywhere,’ Al Sulaiman told the conference of about 200 women.
‘Saudi women can’.
British women’s rights campaigner and barrister Cherie Blair was also in attendance.
Saudi Arabia still has a strict policy of gender segregation (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)
The event was organised by charity Alwaleed Philanthropies, which helps women in the country.
Its secretary general Princess Lamia bint Majed Al Saud said she wanted the conference to draw attention to woman’s achievements and inspire the next generation.
Women in Saudi Arabia can now sit on the government’s advisory Shura Council, vote in municipal elections and work in some retail and hospitality jobs.
But the country still has a long way to go in terms of women’s rights.
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