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By Maram Makkawi
Al-Watan
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SAUDI women have made remarkable progress in different areas over the last few years, extending their skills and capabilities for the development of the country. Thirty women have been appointed to the Shoura Council for the second time to participate in the decision-making process. Women also hold high-ranking government positions. These are positive developments everyone should be proud of. It gives glad tidings about a bright future.
Unfortunately, we have been hearing some negative comments about Saudi women, in total disregard for their achievements in political, cultural, health, education and other sectors. I am sorry to say that these comments and people behind them want to take us back to the past. I don’t want to mention here the negative comments of some imams and clerics who appear on TV channels as well as disgusting discussions on social media networks by people who love publicity.
On the other hand, I want to expose strange statistics issued by an official authority and what has been written in a college textbook. We teach our children something while they experience something else in society.
What is the reason for this smear campaign against women? Why do these people criticize women’s education, instead of praising their academic achievements? Why some of us behave like people who suffer from chronic schizophrenia?
The General Statistics Authority has pointed out in its latest report that the majority of divorced women in the Kingdom are workingwomen, compared to women who do not go out for work. I don’t know whether the problem is with the statistics or the way it was highlighted in the press. Whatever it may be, the conclusion is that women’s work leads to divorce.
This statistics has made many people happy as they found in it what they were looking for in order to continue their campaign against workingwomen who they consider as followers of the Western culture. They wanted these highly educated women to stay at home for the happiness of their husbands and to protect the family from disintegration.
For them, women employment is a luxury. They allege that workingwomen use their salaries only to purchase cosmetics and perfumes.
People in general consider divorce as a negative phenomenon. Sometimes, divorce becomes a positive thing for one of the couples or both. What’s the use of staying with a man who cheats, who beats his wife regularly, who is a criminal or terrorist or stingy, who do not perform regular prayers and who do not follow even the basic religious teachings? A sane woman will not be ready to continue living with such a man unless forced. I am sure that she will dump him when the opportunity comes. Here, divorce is a positive thing for the woman. She will be happy to be free after leading the life of a prisoner.
The controversial book that I mentioned earlier is being taught at a leading university in Riyadh. It was authored by two professors from the same university, who are known for their professional excellence. The book required years of working experience to write. Let us see what the book teaches our young students who are supposed to manage the Kingdom’s economy after graduation.
In the seventh chapter on “Unemployment and inflation”, the authors mention that women’s work was one of the reasons for unemployment among men. Did the authors ignore the fact that most jobs taken by Saudi women are those set aside for women?
For example, teaching jobs in girls schools and universities, doctors and nurses, administrators in women's sections various government and private sector offices as well as banks, and sales clerks in lingerie stores and other women exclusive shops are all set aside for women and there they do not complete with men. Then, how women’s jobs become the reason for men’s unemployment?
According to unofficial statistics published recently, women take only 16 percent of private sector jobs. Here we can notice that private firms employ more foreign women than Saudis.
It’s unfortunate that our poor girl students are forced to write the above false information while sitting exams. This is not only sickening but also reflecting the negative attitude of some people toward women. They consider women as a problem rather than partners in progress, who enjoy the same right like men to have equal job opportunities, as citizens of this country.
What will be the feeling of a girl student who graduates from university with distinction in order to play a vital role in the Kingdom’s development when she knows that society considers her as a problem, not a solution? Even young Saudi men who go through pages of this book are likely to think that women are part of his problem and may oppose women’s employment. They may not allow their wives, sisters and daughters to work. We will accuse such people of being narrow-minded and reactionary, forgetting the fact we were the ones who fed them with negative thoughts since childhood.
During the past 10 years Saudi Arabia has sent thousands of students abroad on scholarships. They included many excellent female students. What was the purpose of sending these women to study medicine, computer science, nanotechnology, law and administrative science at reputable foreign universities? Was it just to sit at home?
As we work hard to achieve progress and build the nation on the basis of a great vision, we should have a wider outlook taking all members of society on board. If Vision 2030 intends to make use of all our competitive edges, diversify economic resources and activate our youth power, we have to revise our curriculum, speeches and media approach to support that vision.
We have to discard discriminative thoughts and negative attitude against women to realize the vision. If not, we will continue in the same position, putting obstacles before the nation’s development and progress. We will waste our time discussing silly matters and when we get up from our deep slumber we would find ourselves far behind other countries and communities.
