By Rashid Al-Fawzan
I AM convinced that there will be no end to women’s unemployment unless there is a radical, decisive and lasting solution to the problem of transportation.
In the past, job sectors were found to boost women’s employment, giving them wider opportunities. But let us not forget that women’s unemployment still exceeds 30 percent. The reason is we have limited women’s work to governmental jobs, in particular education and health.
It is well known that the solution to unemployment for men and women will only be found in the private sector.
We are very much aware of the situation of our public transport system, which that is very difficult for women. Not every woman can afford a driver or buy a car. Drivers need accommodation, salary and official paperwork. In the face of rising salaries, the driver has become a burden, rather than a support, on working women.
Drivers now demand at least SR2,500, housing and other benefits that cost the women a lot even if the driver is good, reliable and consistent. It is almost as if women are working just to maintain a driver.
The solution? I am surprised by the proposed solutions for unemployment among women because we have not touched the core problem, which in my opinion is providing appropriate work environment for women, including transportation, a good salary and training.
The solution is for the Ministry of Labor to sign agreements with Uber and Karim to provide women with easy and inexpensive means of transportation to and from places of work. Hadaf can take care of transportation, and I think this will contribute significantly to solve the core problem of women’s unemployment, which is transportation.
The Ministry of Labor must coordinate with these companies and the Ministry of Transportation to resolve the transportation problem as soon as possible.
The solution will only be through the private sector, because companies and institutions will provide salaries that match the nature of work, which on average is SR6,000. Transportation drains at least a third of women’s salaries.
Women have the right to work as much as men. She is a housewife and breadwinner at the same time, and it is her right to have a personal ambition and she should not be prevented from achieving it.
