RIYADH, 14 August 2004 — Saudi women, long confined to teaching and medical professions, made their debut in new fields this summer. They include the jobs of medical transcriptionists and receptionists at call centers. Some firms have also started hiring women as executive secretaries.

Speaking to Arab News on the summer transcription program, Hanan Al-Hamad, who is doing a diploma course in medical transcription from the College of Applied Studies and Community Services at King Faisal University, said it was a five-week intensive transcription training in one of the hospitals in Dammam.

The objective of the training program, she pointed out, was to learn the hospital method of operating the transcription equipment (dictation system) and to see the format of the medical reports. Asked if she found it a challenging profession, she said yes “because no matter how much experience you have, your ability will be tested in each report you type. In this profession, you need to prove first to yourself that you are capable of producing a high standard document.”

Asked about the prospects of other Saudi universities starting similar courses, Hanan and her colleague, Maryam Al-Hashim, said: “The idea was great as King Faisal University succeeded in this program as it was the first course in the Middle East which combined the medical transcription and secretarial courses. I hope that the other universities in the Kingdom will follow King Faisal University’s example of establishing new courses for Saudi students.”

Maryam said she took up this course, since it is a unique course in the Middle East. “It appealed to me because it needs both administrative skills, sound knowledge of English and medical terminology. “

The job of a medical transcriptionist involves transcribing a wide range of medical reports and documents from the dictation equipment. The requirements for this profession include extensive knowledge of medical terminology, anatomy and physiology as well as the ability to edit dictated material for grammar, punctuation, consistency and accuracy. King Faisal University of Dammam is the only university in the Kingdom offering this three-year diploma course.

Another profession that has made its debut is that of receptionist at the call centers. “With Etisalat coming to the Kingdom and banks streamlining their customer service, there will be great demand for Saudi women in answering calls relating to telephone services, banking transactions and services offered by satellite providers for online channel change,” Sumera Macci, who had experience in this field, told Arab News in Riyadh. Here again, sound knowledge of English is a prerequisite together with a pleasing voice over the telephone. Call centers have already started advertising their summer on-the-job training program.

New job opportunities are also opening for female executive secretary. For now, those filling up such vacancies include Filipino women in the private sector and Arab women in diplomatic missions.

Saudi Arabia recently lifted a ban that kept women from jobs in most fields.

The Cabinet has instructed the ministries and government agencies to create jobs for women, and asked the chambers of commerce and industry to form a committee for women to help train and find jobs for them in the private sector. It also decided that land will be allocated for the establishment of industrial projects to employ women, and said in future all positions in shops selling women’s clothes and accessories would be reserved for Saudi women.

According to Nahed Taher, a senior economist at National Commercial Bank, 55 percent of university graduates in the Kingdom are females, but the overwhelming majority stayed at home.