JEDDAH, 15 August 2003 — With the number of working families on the increase, the need to establish childcare centers in places where women work is growing apace. Many working mothers say the main reason for their frequent absence from work is fear for their children’s safety while they are away, and childcare would help ease that anxiety, Al-Madinah reported.
Kholood Al-Qahtani works in a private company. “I think it is our right to ask for a childcare center where we work so we can look after our children,” she said. “I want to make sure that my child is safe and under my direct supervision.” Besides, she says, she does not believe that servants should take care of children; that should be the job of mothers. “I think it is a good idea if we can combine work and home by comfortably working in our jobs and feel safe that our children are being taken care of. There are female employees who cannot afford to hire maids to take care of their children while they are away. What will happen to them? How can they work? I think that the quality of their work will suffer because they will be distracted with worry about what is happening to their child, especially if it’s a newborn. At that age, babies can’t be left alone, and I certainly don’t want my child to look on the maid as her mother. “It is not fair on working mothers to force them to choose between their careers and their children,” she added.
Sarah Shaban, who also works for a private company, said companies should have a role in helping mothers to balance childcare and work. “They should not pressure women to choose between their family and their career,” she explained. “Creches would allow women to be more productive because they would be able to concentrate on their work knowing that their children are close by and can be checked on,” she added.
Nadia Ali, a teacher, said she starts thinking about her children the moment she leaves home. “I worry a great deal if I have to leave a baby with a servant. I worry constantly at school and sometimes I call home several times to check on my children. Some teachers who have no servants get up early to drop their children at their parents’ houses. A friend of mine spends two hours a day taking her child to her mother’s and picking him up on her way home. A creche in the school would solve that problem.
“It would also save money on servants,” she added. “And the children in the creche would not be exposed to influence from the servants. There are many teachers willing to pay for the centers from their own pockets.” Another teacher, Khadeeja Abdulrahman, said the sickness of a child posed a difficult choice for a working mother. “Of course I will stay with my child. I have read many stories about children who died because of the servants’ negligence. What if the house was on fire? I would not trust the maid: I think she would leave the child behind and save herself,” she said. Abdul Aziz Ahmad, whose wife, a teacher, strongly supports the idea of a childcare center, said: “I used to leave my child with neighbors and I paid them every month. But I was afraid because I had left them in the care of unprofessional people. A creche with professional staff would be much better, and I would even be willing to contribute to it from my salary.”