Women prefer to postpone vacation until Ramadan

About 50 percent of Saudi women working as retail saleswomen in department stores have decided to postpone their vacation to the holy month of Ramadan as it is difficult to manage both the home and their jobs outside where they are required to work for more than six hours a day. Moreover, many of them have no domestic helpers to assist them in their household duties during the holy month, according to an expert in the retail sector.

The Labor Ministry has fixed women's working hours from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on normal days but in the holy month of fasting, most female-run shops start receiving customers from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m and only close their doors for two hours for the breaking of the fast from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Furthermore, the ministry has urged businesses to employ only Saudi women in female-clothes and accessories shops stressing that companies which employ non-Saudis will be fined.

"The ministry intends to expand women's employment gradually," said a senior ministry official, who emphasized the need to appoint Saudi women at shops selling women’s dresses and accessories.
The ministry has targeted the shops selling female perfumes, gowns, shoes, footwear, bags, ready-made dresses, women’s cloth, and mother care products for the employment of Saudi women.
However, many Saudi and expat women have household chores to attend to besides their work outside the home while some of them have additional responsibilities of looking after their children. Moreover, many women cannot afford housemaids with their salaries that do not exceed SR4,000.
Ibrahim Abdul Kareem, human resources manager at a cosmetics company for make-up and perfumes told Arab News: "We started employing Saudi women to sell women's cosmetics in 2012. However, many of them complain about the working hours during the holy month of Ramadan when they are required to work until at 1 a.m. We also receive many requests from women who prefer to take their annual vacation during the holy month but we cannot accept them due to the work pressure during Ramadan."

He said that to solve the problem, the company has started distributing the vacations of its female staff around the year and increased the number of women who want to work as part-timers which allows 50 percent of the female workers to take their annual vacation in Ramadan.

Most Saudi women work the counters in retail shops to earn an income to support their families. But they often find it difficult to keep the long working hours during Ramadan when shops close at 2 a.m.
"It is hard to work in Ramadan because of the long hours and many of us have to take care of our homes as well. Moreover, I don't have a maid to help me so I often request to have my annual vacation postponed to Ramadan to avoid my household duties clashing with my work,"Alaa Al-Jehany who works in a perfume shop told Arab News.

Hend Adnan who works in a make-up shop said: "I don't know how I will manage my work with the household chores during Ramadan. I just started working three months ago and I have to help my mother prepare dinner, iftar and sahoor meals as well. But I can't leave my job as I have to support my father and brothers," she lamented.

The nationalization drive to replace the foreign labor force with Saudis has created numerous job opportunities for Saudi women in nearly every sector but the move has also given rise to the problem of women juggling the work place with household duties.

Women don’t need mahram OK for travel within KSA

Around 64 percent of Saudi women are unaware of their right to travel inside the Kingdom without obtaining the approval of their guardians, local media reported, quoting a recently published study.

Similarly, the study found that 59 percent of Saudi men were oblivious that women are allowed to travel domestically without the prior consent of guardians.

The study, which was conducted by Khadija bint Khuwailid Center for Businesswomen at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was designed to measure public opinion regarding Saudi women’s participation in national development and the problems facing them in the labor market.

Around 3,000 male and female individuals above 18 years old were randomly selected from 11 cities across the Kingdom to participate in the study. 

The study also found that 66 and 70 percent of women and men respectively strongly rejected the idea of women traveling without their guardian’s consent.

Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Suleiman Al-Yahya, director-general of the Passport Department, said the department has no intention of canceling travel permits for women. 

The only exception will be made for women abroad on scholarship, he said.

Citizens living abroad will no longer need to employ paperwork agents or visit passport offices and will instead be able to use the Abshir online system.

“This online system is fully protected from hacking attempts,” he said.

The Interior Ministry, meanwhile, has promised to implement an e-linkage project between the Social Affairs, Justice and Commerce Ministries.

“Citizens find it easy to criticize system shortcomings because they are oblivious to the amount of work undertaken by the department in enhancing performance and expanding services,” he said. “The mediator phenomenon will soon disappear.”

“There are 500,000 Saudi citizens living in Egypt and 150,000 living in Kuwait,” said Ambassador Osama Al-Sanousi, undersecretary for Consular Affairs.

“The ministry, however, does not have accurate statistics about the number of Saudis living permanently in other countries because of the absence of a mechanism to monitor such figures,” he said. “As such, Saudis living abroad should register at the local embassies in the countries in which they reside.”

“In addition, Saudis living abroad should refrain from discussing sensitive topics and should only answer questions in the presence of a lawyer in the event of arrest,” he said.

“Embassies are tasked with bailing out their citizens and protecting them getting into prison,” said Al-Sanousi.

New initiative aims to empower Arab women

Where are Arab women when it comes to participation in decision-making within political parties and trade unions? This question provokes many negative ideas linked to the political status of women. They are marginalized and excluded from decision-making, although they represent half of the community.
Summary⎙ Print A group of organizations throughout the Arab world, in cooperation with Oxfam Novib, has launched a project to increase women’s participation in politics.

These are not merely stereotypes; rather, a number of studies confirm this reality. Is it acceptable, for instance, in Egypt, where women alongside men have “made” the January 25 revolution, that the rate of women’s participation in political parties is only 1%, according to the Egyptian Center for Public Opinion Research? In Jordan, the rate is up to 7.5%, according to the Department of Statistics, including their participation in trade unions. In Lebanon, the broad participation of women in political parties specifically has not turned into a breakthrough when it comes to higher levels and key positions. The situation is not much different in Tunisia, where women have strived to prove themselves during the uprising that ousted the regime of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Yet, with the repeated political changes, there is a growing concern that women will lose the [rights] acquired during the revolution with the return of the traditional gender roles and re-emergence of stereotypical figures, according to a study by the National Democratic Institute.

These statistics and studies indicate that there are several obstacles to the active participation of women in decision-making processes within political parties and trade unions. This is what a group of organizations in the Arab countries — namely the Women's Studies Center (WSC), the Center for Egyptian Women Legal Assistance (Egypt), the Arab Institute for Human Rights (Tunisia and Morocco) and the Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering (Lebanon) — is trying to do as part of a project funded by the European Union, in partnership with Oxfam Novib, under the title of “the promotion of the role of political parties and trade unions in enhancing women's political participation.”

The lack of consideration for women’s concerns

Manar Zaiter, coordinator for the regional project, explained to Al-Hayat the timing of this movement and the reasons behind prompting the organizations to unite to implement it. Following the Arab Spring, new trade unions and political movements have emerged. If there is no movement in these countries to safeguard women's right of political participation at this time, then it will be difficult to gain these rights in the coming years. This issue applies to Egypt and Tunisia in particular. In Lebanon, Palestine and Morocco — which are covered by the project and have not witnessed the Arab Spring revolutions — women are present in political parties and trade unions, yet without any real participation in decision-making.

The female members of parties themselves lack the consideration for women’s issues and do not claim their rights as they should. The several studies that were conducted in the concerned countries prior to the project concluded that it is important to stimulate women who are already in the political parties and trade unions, to help them assume their roles. In parallel, work should also focus on women who are not affiliated with any parties or trade unions, in order to promote their political participation.

Zaiter noted that the studies observed that women affiliated with parties and trade unions have a high level of political awareness, yet they do not meet the required level of awareness of the problems suffered by women and the causes that need to be fought for. This issue directly affects their performance within the organizations in which they are active. Thus, the project focuses on training seminars and workshops with women, in partnership with the parties and the unions themselves, regarding personal status [laws], women's work and other issues. The independent women have their share in the project through training workshops on political participation, where efforts focus on women who desire to participate in the municipal and parliamentary elections or who have already had experience in this area, so that they can overcome the obstacles facing them because of the male-dominated mentality in Arab societies.

Stimulation of youth groups

This regional project is trying to break the stereotype that women’s political participation is limited to a specific age group or a particular professional tendency and to address other criteria that could pose real challenges to the presence of women in the political scene. It stimulates the youth groups through a direct campaign on social networking sites under the title “we struggled together … we decide together,” in reference to the role of women in decision-making, not only their presence within political parties and trade unions.

In Lebanon, in particular, this campaign has expanded to include billboards on the roads and television and radio ads. It is interesting that women who raised the slogan of the campaign are young and hail from various Lebanese parties, in addition to female and male journalists and civil activists. The campaign has assumed its role in terms of drawing attention to the idea that political participation of women should not be neglected and marginalized, although there are other priorities. It must continue through steps taken by every woman, whether she is a member of a party or a trade union or independent, to prove herself and her potential and to serve as a loud female voice in an environment that has been dominated by patriarchy for decades.