JEDDAH, 21 January 2004 — When Reem Al-Jarbou took a new job and became the first woman employee among hundreds of men, she joined an elite band blazing a trail in one of the world’s last great nation-bastions of male rule.
“At the beginning some men would not take the lift with me, but that quickly changed over the last two months,” said Al-Jarbou, international relations adviser at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The example may be unfair on the chamber since it is helping more than most to give women a hand up as Saudi Arabia reconciles Islamic traditions with demands for profound political, social and economic reform after the Sept. 11, 2001.
A smattering of businesswomen sit on its committees and, to assist female entrepreneurs, the chamber is about to open the Khadija bint Khuwailed Center, named after one of the Prophet’s wives, a noted businesswoman. From outside that may seem a small step, but it’s a first in the Kingdom, where it has been greeted as another major stride toward female empowerment. Saudi women believe they crashed through another glass ceiling this week when a woman gave a speech for the first time at an important gathering in the kingdom.
And Lubna Al-Olayan, chief executive officer of Olayan Financing Company and Saudi Arabia’s most prominent businesswomen, did not waste the occasion. “Abandon the progress without change philosophy,” she told the Jeddah Economic Forum. “Without real change there can be no real progress. If we in Saudi Arabia want to progress we have no choice but to embrace change,” said Al-Olayan who runs a group of some 40 companies. She may have been preaching to the converted, particularly the 300 women seated in a section screened off from some 1,000 businessmen, but her hard-hitting message was splashed on the front pages. It was hailed a “historic speech”. “As a Saudi female, I think today that we have made history,” agreed Dr. Nahed Taher, chief economist at the National Commercial Bank, the biggest in the Arab world.
Taher is one of a growing number of women forcing their way into top jobs against all the odds, armed with doctorates and masters degrees from foreign universities and an iron will to succeed. “The new thing is that we are now in the formal economy. We want to be there as professionals,” she said.
Thuraya Arrayed, planning adviser to the oil giant Saudi Aramco, agreed. “Now is the time to give a push, to step up the participation of women.”
The Saudi economy can ill afford to continue to ignore half of the active population, particularly now 58 percent of graduates from Saudi universities are female, the women argue. “We need hundreds of Olayans to unearth the depth of impediments towards female business participation,” Hind Qublan said.
“I think it is about time Saudi Arabia considers seriously assigning deputy ministerial posts in ministries where women’s issues are pertinent, for example education, labor and social security,” said the textiles trade manager. Arrayed hailed a government decision this month to lift the requirement for women to have a male agent if they own a business, although they must still employ a male general manager.
To skirt such restrictive rules, some 10,000 women run small companies from home. The Jeddah forum, which closed Monday, heard calls from the floor for women to forge ahead on their own and forget government assistance. But the women feel the government must take action as well, including legislation, if changes are to take root. Arrayed called for decent childcare services and effective public transport to help get women to work. What Saudi women seek is modest in comparison with the women’s liberation movements of the West
Radio presenter Samar Fatany acknowledged the progress already made, citing women representing Saudi Arabia at conferences abroad and standing for election to a journalists’ association. But far more has to happen and soon, she said. “The major issue that will determine whether the reforms will succeed is the position of women. If they are sincere about it they will do something about the role of women. “If they are going to dilly-dally, everybody will lose their enthusiasm. We have been isolated from the whole world for a long time and we need to be part of it,” said Fatany.