JEDDAH, 16 September 2005 — The system of the Saudi Chambers of Commerce does not prevent women from nominating themselves for the board of directors’ membership and it also does not provide them with special seats or privileges compared to the men. This was announced yesterday at a press conference at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry as it opens the door for the first time for businesswomen to participate in the elections as candidates and not only voters.
The Ministry of Commerce made the historic decision on Tuesday after it received a letter from the JCCI requesting postponing the elections to allow equal opportunity for male and female members of the chamber to participate. “I just wanted to clarify that the chamber was not the agent responsible for making the decision. The system does not differentiate between the male and female members in their rights and our position was clear on the principle of equality from the start,” said chairman of the board Dr. Ghassan Al-Sulaiman.
“Another misconception is that women would be allocated special seats, and that is not true. They will be given the equal opportunity to compete for the twelve seats open for election,” he said. Sulaiman also pointed out that the decision to postpone the elections, which were supposed to start this week once the final list of candidates is announced, until November was not only due to the women’s objections of being excluded.
Many businessmen complained about the timing while most of them were still out of the country for the summer and were either not aware of the election dates or could not file their nomination application before the deadline. “When the ministry found that quite a number of women were interested in nominating themselves and that many men complained about the timing, the minister consulted with us and with the other chambers and institutions and found that we all agreed and welcomed the decision, it was made after we sent a letter requesting the postponement,” said Sulaiman.
Starting Saturday, the male and female candidates have 15 days to announce their candidacy. Four businesswomen — Sameera Bitar, Rida Ghazzawi, Hessa Al-Oun and Olfat Qabbani - had previously filled the nomination form and were rejected while six others were considering running; now their applications are accepted and more women are expected to run.
In total, 51 male candidates nominated themselves, which is the largest number of candidates in any chambers elections in the Kingdom, an achievement in itself, according to Sulaiman, and he expects the number to increase. “I hope that the voters would consider the nominees based on their qualifications, campaign platform and the best to represent them regardless of gender; that will show a maturity in our society,” he said.
Meanwhile, he believes that all eyes will be on the JCCI’s experience of including women and he hopes it would be a success for the other chambers, which were supportive and happy with the decision, to evaluate it and implement it too. “Women’s presence in the board of directors would be a plus especially for the Khadija Center for businesswomen. The female members have already proved their valuable contribution in the chamber’s activities and committees and I wish them success in winning as many seats as they can,” said Sulaiman. He told Arab News that the request for including women in the elections was a group effort by men and women at the chambers and although he expects some problems, he believes it was the right decision and the time is right for it.
The Minister of Commerce will appoint six other members to the board in addition to the 12 elected. Sulaiman said that the minister consults with people and makes a list of possible names to appoint whom he considers would be of benefit to the board once the elections are over, so whether the list would include women’s names is premature to talk about. He also said that the ministry is in the process of preparing a new system for the chambers and one of the suggested changes being discussed is allowing for all the board members be elected.
