Al-Madinah

Many people believe that men are not the worst enemies of women, and that the biggest enemy of a woman is other women. This can be seen from the way women interact with each other when one of them becomes a manager or has a position of authority in a business or government department.

I will not elaborate further but will instead share a letter I received from a woman who is a teacher.

“To my fellow countryman Dr. Ahmad Al-Arfaj,

I write this letter to you hoping that it will reach you and that you will publish it in your newspaper column so that everyone can read it. I want you to read what I am going to say.

“I had always hoped that the education sector would be like one big family and support one another. However, sadly, I see that jealousy among women is affecting the atmosphere. I have seen some supervisors in the education sector isolating and fighting with other teachers because they are better than they are. This is rooted in jealousy.”

She added: “We want justice at the end of each year. We want to evaluate the negatives so we can avoid them next year and identify the positives so that we can focus on them and develop them even more. As for jealousy, that is a personal matter that needs to be dealt with by the person herself. I want my work to be evaluated fairly because it is my work and my future.

“How can we start a new education year when a good teacher is being intentionally ignored and demoralized because of the jealousy of another teacher or supervisor who is in power? Is there a cure for this blind jealousy?

“I want everyone who is concerned with education in our country to know that I am doing all that is in my power to develop education and I want to do more. I look forward to competing with others when it comes to work. I also want blind jealousy among women to be dealt with. I want women to differentiate between the ambition that drives a person to compete and develop and improve positively, and jealousy that stands as an obstacle in the way of others.”

The letter ends here. It is true that the worst enemy of a woman is other women. Do readers agree? I await your comments.