QATIF, 26 January 2006 — A group of 20-something women have joined the election campaigns of candidates running in the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce & Industry (EPCCI). Voting by chamber members will begin on Feb. 18 and take place over several days.
This group of young women is working for the benefit of the Taawun Group, which includes 12 businessmen: Six merchandisers and six manufacturers.
The women work in a ladies-only office from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. calling women members of the organization asking for their vote in the upcoming election.
“We are supposed to deal with businesswomen only but when we call the numbers we have, mostly we find men answering the phones who are the commissioners of these women,” said Guslam Esbah, one of the women working for the election campaign. “This causes lots of problems. Lots of men tell us that they want something in return and others say that they aren’t interested in the elections at all and it isn’t easy to convince them.”
Not being able to contact the person in charge or convincing them to vote for a particular group of candidates is a common problem with telemarketers. But in Saudi Arabia, these women encounter other obstacles.
Fatin Al-Musa and Rehab Al-Sheuk, girls in the campaign, both agree that some men consider having a girl call them to talk about the elections as an invitation to flirt with her and be impolite. Others simply want to know what’s in it for them.
“We find lots of men that ask for something in return such as paying the due of the membership in the chamber for them which is an improper thing because this isn’t the aim of the elections,” said Narjis Al-Marar, another campaign telemarketer.
The situation becomes even worse when people don’t really understand the elections and what use they can make from it.
“Many people don’t understand what is going on in this period although they are members of the chamber,” said Azhar Al-Gareeb. “This isn’t only with women but also with some men. For that, we find ourselves not only calling them to get their votes, we also explain to them the purpose and aim of the elections and their role in it.”
“Women need to be involved in these activities and increase their knowledge of them,” said Alia Fareed, one of the campaign managers. “This experience allowed us to understand the elections closely. Also, we believe that the people that we are helping have the ability to help society as a whole and specifically business people so we want to help them to achieve success.”
