When a society is experiencing unemployment among men, the last thing people may want to discuss is the lack of job opportunities for women. Therefore, the postponement of serious debate about women’s unemployment is the best option both for society and the media. We usually close discussions on a subject in two ways: One of them is nice and that is when we say this issue is “premature” and the other is not so pleasant and that is when we say, “This is a true statement made with malice.”
One of my colleagues recently sent me two sets of statistics: One of them regarding the number of women who applied for jobs in education and the other about the lucky ones who actually got jobs. A simple calculation showed me that the women who actually got jobs were only 6 percent of the total number of applicants. When we take into consideration that the educational sector is the largest employer of women, we realize the magnitude of the problem. In this case we do not need any statistics to know the seriousness of the issue. As a matter of fact, most educated women in our country are unemployed.
The dreams of these women are shattered without anybody taking notice. The girl who traveled across a difficult terrain from her village to the university woke up to the reality that that road would not take her to employment. Another girl who wore out her father with routine procedures and red tape finally realized that she would never be able to help her father who was pinning such high hopes on her. The wife who was waiting for a job in order to help her husband meet the soaring household expenses has succumbed to a bitter and cold reality.
The sadness engulfing unemployed women is devastating. They are now confined to the silence of their houses. They are living with broken dreams and fading away without being noticed. An unemployed man may fight against his frustrations by going out, looking for a temporary job to help him face his troubles but an unemployed woman can do nothing except wait and wait until she has reached a point of despair and stagnation. She has nothing to do except watch dubbed Turkish soap operas on television. If some men go astray because of unemployment, leisure and bad economic conditions, women may do the same.
The state has spent billions of riyals on girls’ education but not finding jobs for women graduates will transform these billions into a wasted and useless investment.
