JEDDAH, 17 November 2005 — Many people express confusion over Ministry of Labor efforts to get more women into the workplace that seem to advance and retreat like the tides of the Red Sea.
The ministry recently banned night shifts for women at all businesses except health care facilities and plans to enforce it with SR500-SR1,000 fines and threats of closure.
That regulation was on the books long before Labor Minister Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi cited it in August. “The decision was not meant to change women’s work situations but rather to create a more suitable work environment,” Dr. Al-Gosaibi said.
Nine working conditions were put in place, the most controversial being the nightshift ban.
“Women should not work between sunset and sunrise — for a period of not less than 11 hours,” Dr. Al-Gosaibi said, quoting Article 161 of the Saudi Labor Law. The ministry justified the application of the old rule as it was a condition of an article of the International Labor Organization with which the Kingdom ratified a treaty.
That rule contradicts a directive issued in June by the Ministry of Labor, which concerns employing Saudi women in shops selling women’s goods. Shops in Saudi Arabia typically are open for two shifts. Night shifts normally last until 10 p.m. but often are extended to midnight in the summer. In Ramadan, night shifts end about 3 a.m. Therefore, applying the regulation would disrupt the Kingdom’s normal shopping patterns.
Whether shopping hours or regulations change, it is clear that Saudi women entering the workplace will prompt both people and officials to revisit longtime societal precepts and forge a new vision for the future — if women are to play an important role in the creation of a new, vibrant economy in the Kingdom.
