Woman empowerment stressed

JEDDAH: A two-day Forum on the Participation of Women in National Development” ended on Tuesday with a series of recommendations to improve the lot of women in the Kingdom and empower them.

The recommendations made at the event — held at the Hilton in Jeddah to mark the Khadijah bint Khuwallid Businesswomen Center’s sixth year of operations — included suggestions that women be included in committees relating to the economy, legislation of laws awarding women maternity leave, women’s participation in the Council of Senior Scholars, their appointment as advisers to the grand mufti and inclusion in the Supreme Advisory Commission to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.

“Women still need to improve their presence in banking and information technology. Procedures need to be set up to achieve equal opportunities in education and training,” said Minister of Culture and Information Abdul Aziz Khoja, adding that women are increasingly appearing on TV and radio.

“There is a need for equal job opportunities in the private sector for both genders. We have to be realistic as it is very difficult to completely change stereotypes within a short period, especially when it involves women working in new fields,” he added.

Minister of Labor Adel Fakieh said women’s participation in development is still low because of social and organizational factors, and that women constitute only 16 percent of the total workforce.

“There are 200,000 women who are unemployed, which is 44 percent of the total number of unemployed people in the Kingdom. Unemployed women are educated above high school level, unlike unemployed men who in most cases do not have degrees,” he said.

He added that within eight weeks, a new mechanism will be set up to regulate women’s employment, protect them from exploitation and punish violators. He also promised to deal with issues faced by non-Saudis in the Kingdom.

Speaking of women teachers who die in car accidents while traveling to rural schools, Deputy Minister of Education Norah Al-Faiz, who came on behalf of Minister of Education Prince Faisal bin Abdullah, said there is little that the Ministry of Education can do to solve such problems. She added that such teachers want full-time jobs and should accept the consequences of their decisions. She also said the Ministry of Education has a responsibility to provide education to children in rural villages.

When asked about the lack of public libraries, she said the Internet is playing an important role in helping students and researchers.

She also promised that English will be introduced in the elementary stage in addition to sports for girls. She, however, demanded more time and patience to achieve these goals.

The audience was particularly surprised to see Shaikh Ahmad Al-Ghamdi, head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in the Makkah Province, at the event.

Challenging a ban on women driving, he said: “Clerics have studied the issue and no one has come up with a verse that would forbid women driving … I do not consider it to be forbidden.” He was talking with journalists on the sidelines of the forum.

Al-Ghamdi, who spoke at a session moderated by Turki Al-Dakheel, a presenter with Al-Arabiya channel, was seated next to Tunisian professor Manjiya Al-Suwaihi and legal consultant Adnana Al-Salih.

Al-Ghamdi was the focus of attention and was asked a number of questions. He also attracted a great deal of support and comments from the female audience who applauded him when he discussed the issue of khalwa and gender mixing.

The Haia chief said it is permissible for a woman — based on different interpretations of Islamic law — to uncover her face. However, when he mentioned that there is a difference of view regarding the covering of hair, an Islamic studies student objected by saying that the position of uncovering the hair is weak and, in light of religious law, unworthy of attention. Al-Ghamdi said he agreed with this.

Commenting on the French ban on veils, Al-Ghamdi said this is due to the French fearing an attack on their personal identity and that the Islamic ruling asking for women to be covered is for their protection.

JCCI Chairman Saleh Kamel spoke about the character assassination he was subjected to through an SMS campaign that claimed he was un-Islamic.

Adnan Salih, a legal consultant who spoke on behalf of Yousuf Al-Jabir, shed light on the difficulties women face when dealing with the judicial system as women are either too shy to express their problems or are discriminated against. He further called on human rights activists to visit rural areas of the Kingdom where women are neglected and unaware of their rights.

He also criticized the ease with which men can issue divorces, while women have to go through years of bureaucracy to get the same. Commenting on this, Noura Al-Shaikh, an official from the Ministry of Social Affairs, said it is financially exhausting for a woman to get divorced. She further cited the example of a woman who was asked by her ex-husband to pay SR100,000 in exchange for a divorce. The court later decreased this to SR50,000 which she managed to pay after four years, even though she was unemployed.

The forum’s chairperson, Maha Fitaihy, said the recommendations included the drawing up of a national plan to improve the image of women, especially in the workplace, the setting up of a commission for women’s affairs, their inclusion in provincial government councils, the setting up of a committee at the Muslim World League to take care of women in Saudi Arabia and the Muslim world, and the launching of a television channel to promote the image and achievements of Saudi women to the outside world.