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.