Nadia was a nurse in a Saudi government hospital. She has spent 29 years caring for the sick and dreamed of completing 30 so that she could retire on a full pension. Unfortunately, she fell ill, and despite advice from her colleagues she insisted on finishing the year. Sadly, she died not long after without fulfilling her dream. The sad part of the story is that she was single and provided for her brother’s family because his salary was inadequate for his and his family’s needs. After her death, her brother asked about her pension and whether he was entitled to inherit the pension. The answer was that he could not, and he was given SR2,000 as compensation. Nadia’s story says a great deal about how the system here works, and how a single woman in Saudi Arabia lives and dies.
Another woman whose husband died was faced with the fact that his pension would be stopped since she was employed. When she asked if she could inherit from her husband, the answer again was no.
This has become a vital issue that all working women face; if they are not married, they cannot assign their pensions to the relatives they support. And if they are married and working, then that is considered sufficient reason for them not to inherit from their father or husband.
If a person works all his life in a job and is entitled to a pension that has been deducted from his salary over the years, he and his family have every right to benefit from it. If the law prevents him and his family from doing so, then there is a problem that demands to be addressed and solved.
The law says that if a woman is working then she is not entitled to inherit her deceased father or husband’s pension. But if she has been used to a certain way of life, why should she have to change it? That is simply adding an economic crisis to the trauma of bereavement. Assuming that the woman’s work is an adequate amount is neither practical nor fair. Assuming that if the daughters are married, they are not entitled to inherit their father’s money is also not realistic. How do the officials know that these women are being looked after by their husbands? Why do they have to wait for financial support — which they may or may not get — when their father worked all his life to provide for them? Why does Nadia’s brother have to live in poverty or possible need when his sister wanted him to benefit from her money?
I was listening to a group of working women talking about the dreaded day of retirement; some of then imagined a worst-case scenario in which they would have to give up the lifestyle they had become used to. One of them even admitted, “I have decided to take early retirement so I can benefit from my money.” This woman’s fears were unfortunately realized even before she could carry out her decision. Her husband died suddenly and she had to live with the fact that half her income had gone with him.
A man who was listening to our discussion said, “It’s not only women who are affected by this. Men also have to worry about what happens if the wife dies first and her pension stops. What happens is that your whole life changes and the family income is reduced by half.”
If these women and men’s services were needed to build the country, then their fears and apprehensions must be addressed and calmed. What provides some relief is that currently the Shoura Council is discussing these very issues. Let us hope for results that will please all of us.
- Arab News Opinion 9 September 2003
