Saudi Arabia gets first ever female newspaper editor-in-chief

Somayya Jabarti had been named editor-in-chief of the daily English-language Saudi Gazette. (Facebook)

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

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

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.