MAKKAH: Women who are forced to go out and seek jobs to sustain themselves or help their poor families might find themselves prey to all sorts of harassment.
Employers, forced by Saudization rules to hire citizens, do not usually feel happy when approached by Saudis, especially women.
These companies do not only offer women low wages but may also not pay them full salaries at the end of each month. The payments may also be delayed for many months. The predicament does not stop here. Some of the women job seekers or those already emplo-yed by the private sector may have to pay a heavier price if they want to be employed or continue in their jobs.
Talking to Arab News about her bitter experience, Ibtissam, a young Saudi woman, said she had to seek a job because her ex-husband agreed to give her divorce only if she relinquished the alimony for their son.
She said she got a job at a private sector establishment as a saleswoman. “The company gave me the mobile numbers of many customers and asked me to call and offer them our products,” she said. “A customer immediately started courting me the moment he heard me. It was as if he had never heard a female voice before. When I hung up on him I was surprised to hear my supervisor reprimanding me and telling me that I was not fit for the job. When I told him that the man was courting me, he laughed and said I should take him on a ride until I got what I wanted.” Ibtissam said she only stayed in that job for three months and now she is on the road again looking for a job to support herself and her son.
Eiman, another young Saudi woman, said she applied for a job at a private hospital because she needed to help her unemployed father. She said the official in charge of employment in the hospital asked her to give her personal mobile number to call her when there was an opening. “The next day he called me and asked me to go out with him if I wanted to get the job. I closed my phone and dropped the idea of getting a job,” she said.
Laila is a divorcee living with her family in a small apartment. She thought of getting a job to help her father. “The interviewee asked me if I would feel happy or sad if a customer asked me to give him a kiss. When I answered him, he told me that I was not good for the job,” she said.
Local Chairman of the Commission to promote Virtue and Prevent Vice Ahmad Al-Ghamdi described such cases as rare but said such behavior is an exploitation of the weakness of women and their needs. He asked private companies to appoint old men or women to receive applications of women job seekers.
