According to this piece from Arab News, it’s because they’re both actively discouraged and never encouraged. Only 350,000 of some 9 million Saudi women are working while at the same time, over 7 million foreign women are recruited to work. Clearly, there’s a lot of cognitive dissonance happening here.
The article spells out some of the major hindrances Saudi women face. Let’s congratulate those 350,000 for breaking the mold.
Do We Encourage Our Women to Work?
Dr. Hatoon Al-Fassi, Arab NewsThe total number of Saudi women working in private and public sectors stands at 350,000, according to the latest figures. The Saudi women population is estimated at 9 million. Of this, 5 million are capable of engaging in productive work, given their education and age.
In all, seven million female workers are recruited from outside Saudi Arabia. They are here to meet a situation arising out of Saudi women staying home. Why do our women stay home? Some of them have wrong assumptions and ideas about work outside and sometimes women are forced to remain at home because of personal or family problems. The presence of foreign workers costs SR60 billion. This is a huge drain on our resources and will continue as long as our women are deprived of the chance to work and are burdened with social responsibilities.
This is only one side of the story. The other is the government’s policies and regulations pressure women to leave work. True, there are statements and remarks from high officials that encourage women to work and stress the importance of their contribution to the nation. But the outlook is not really rosy.
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November:09:2007 - 10:57
Sadly the Saudi women who have broken the mold and do have fulfilling jobs and careers and high work ethics and standards are the minority. For the most part a Saudi woman will typically say yes, she wants to work, but then when you get down to specifics and practical suggestions she will start balking and finding excuses. Many of the women (and to be fair, men too) do not have the discipline for a regular work schedule where they must report to work on time each and every day as well as understand the work environment is just not another place to socialize and spend time.
Too many of the Saudi women want to have the benefits and allure of a successful career woman but also expect to go immediately into the role of a manager or senior executive — without the practical experience.
Again, I am not saying what I wrote applies to all but I think in fairness it does apply to the majority.
American Bedu
November:09:2007 - 11:41
I agree with Carol. I love many aspects of the Arab culture, but it’s work ethic is something I cannot stand. No one wants to work hard, long, or start at the bottom. Everyone wants the cushy easy job with no hours, high pay, and at the top of the ladder.
November:09:2007 - 11:50
Well, that behavior isn’t unknown among today’s American university graduates, either! And then the cold, hard reality hits.
Saudi women’s obligations to their extremely large families is not an insignificant complication, but it doesn’t help them much.