Saudi women breach another male bastion - become liaison officers

Several Saudi women have ventured into a new profession that has hitherto been exclusively male-dominated.
Many women have reportedly become paperwork agents, known in Arabic as “muaqqibeen.”
These agents are tasked with pushing paperwork and applications through at bureaucratic government departments.
This is a relatively new field for women, thanks to a new economy and the rapid developments taking place within the Kingdom.
“The Ministry of Labor will not be able to bring down female unemployment rates unless new venues are opened up for women,” said Reem Assad, an economist. “It is only a matter of time before Saudi women can prove themselves in any domain, and this profession is no exception,” she explained.
“I call upon the media to support women and project their roles within society without making unseemly and provocative comments that denigrate women and disparage their capability at undertaking work in multiple fields,” she said.
She added: “Saudi women are capable of working in tourism, translation, restaurants and other commercial services. In fact, women are no strangers to these occupations. They work in the contracting and real estate sectors without much ado.”
Naimah Bougari, a teacher at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, said that working as liaison officers can be challenging since many government agencies do not have dedicated sections for women, meaning that women wouldn’t even be able to enter these buildings.
Madawi Hassoun, a member of the Council for Arab Businesswomen, said it is high time women worked in this profession.
“There are three such offices in Jeddah for females,” said Hassoun. “These offices have been met with resistance from some employees, but perseverance is the only way forward. There are no constraints for women undertaking this line of work from the Labor Ministry.”