JEDDAH, 20 August 2005 — A telephone and Internet campaign complaining about women in the workplace has prompted communications provider Mobily to shut its women’s call center and consider having separate telephone numbers for men’s and women’s services.
Despite the efforts of the Ministry of Labor to create more job opportunities for women in the private sector, conservatives, displeased by working women, launched a campaign of harassment against the women, phoning the call center numbers to accuse them of improper behavior. The Internet also was used, with certain websites alleging the mixing of men and women.
The newly established Etihad Etisalat telecommunication company (Mobily) opened a section for women in its call centers for customer service, the decision was hailed as a positive example of the private sector’s move toward employing women and providing new opportunities for them. Many women applied and were happy with their jobs, but that changed soon after they began receiving harassment calls eventually pushing the company to close the women’s section.
“We were so happy with the job and the workplace. It was not at all like what was being said on some of those Internet sites claiming that we were mixing with men and talking casually with them all the time,” a female employee at Mobily told Arab News. She said that the call center for women is divided by a partition from the men’s section, but the fact that they were answering inquiry calls by men irritated some conservative community members.
“We were getting harassment calls and hearing all kinds of insults by male callers, but we dealt with them professionally, and, as much as it hurt our feelings, we still wanted to continue with the job,” she said.
Their determination apparently infuriated those abusive callers and Internet web masters. Sources say the company finally was pressured to the point of changing its policy, shuttering the women’s call center two months ago.
The phone service provider is responding in hopes of finding a way to employ women while protecting them from the crude verbal assaults and Internet insults to which they have been subjected.
In September, Mobily plans to relocate the women’s section separate from the existing service center so that the women might be able to continue working in sales and marketing — if the conservatives deign. “There is also the suggestion that an outline call number special for females will be installed to answer customers’ calls and on Mobily call cards in the future,” a company source said.
The harassment and the pressure put on Mobily conflicts with the Ministry of Labor’s efforts at providing employment for women in the private sector under conditions and work environment compatible with our conservative society, which the Mobily call center clearly was. At the same time, many companies are employing women as customer service operators successfully.
Several banks have women answering customers’ calls without having their reputations smeared and their employees crudely harassed.
“We don’t answer customers’ calls directly, but the male operator diverts the women’s calls to us and sometimes men’s as well if the men’s section doesn’t pick up,” said a female employee at Al-Jazira Bank. Other banks, such as Saudi British and Saudi American, have women answer inquiry calls directly.
In some private hospitals, women work as phone operators and in the reception area, but they also complain about being harassed for answering calls or not wearing the appropriate veil.
