It is almost always the case that their hard-earned cash will line the pockets of everyone else, but they will not get a halala.
These regular payments can continue throughout their professional lives and as long as the Education Ministry employs them, they have to pay up or face the consequences.
A woman teacher’s salary is used to pay for things that do not fall into the category of daily necessities, including the payment of “protection money” to her father or husband. It is the price they pay for the right to exist and live a normal life.
Um Ghassan, a schoolteacher and mother of five, is suffering from this very problem. Her husband is using various methods to exploit her financially.
“It started with the shopping. He made sure that he would not have to pay a single riyal for purchases, whether it was clothes for the children or things for the house,” she told Arab News.
She claimed that when the husband was asked to pay for a new item of furniture, he would reply there was nothing wrong with the old one. Eventually, out of desperation she paid out of her own pocket.
Sharing and partnership are two things that Um Ghassan has not experienced.
“If we plan to travel during the school summer vacation, it is me who will bear all the expenses. Otherwise, there will be no outing,” she said.
“I suggested to my husband that we should have our own home. He welcomed the idea but repeated, like a broken record, that he had no money. So, basically it looks like I have to pay up if we are to have our own house.”
It is obvious that Um Ghassan’s husband enjoys the power and authority given to him by his tribal society, which allows him to exploit his wife’s vulnerability. “Whenever I ask him to pay the housemaid, he would reply that he never asked me to leave the house. Since I went out to work, I have to bear all the extra expenses, including paying the housemaid.”
A woman teacher cannot ask for early retirement so she can receive her after-service money, which she might want to invest. The tribe will not allow women to invest their money simply because it believes every riyal should go to the husband. If she disobeys, she will be divorced, which is also not approved by the tribe.
Um Ghassan puts it bluntly in simple words: “I am in the private ownership of my husband and tribe.”
It is not only the married woman teacher who cannot enjoy her salary. Single women who teach have to pay their fathers instead. Some fathers refuse to allow their working daughters to marry because they do not want to lose the monthly payment they receive from them. Basically, all women teachers have to pay out, one way or the other.
Manal Ali, who has been a secondary schoolteacher for more than 10 years, said her salary goes toward paying off the car finance and driver’s monthly salary, which is never less than SR1,200.
Paying the housemaid, bills and Internet charges are also consuming women teachers’ salaries, and Manal is no exception.
“The largest chunk of the salary, however, goes to the bank, which takes a quarter of my monthly income to pay off a loan I have taken out to build a house,” Manal said.
The schools themselves are also among those to benefit from the woman teacher’s salary.
Women teachers have to pay for the data entry employee each semester. They will also have to contribute to the cleaners’ wages.
“We have to pay for photocopies, which costs in excess of SR50 weekly. During the final exams, we all contribute toward the rental of a photocopier machine, which can cost up to SR3,000,” Manal said.
According to women teachers who spoke anonymously, some government schools will also ask them to pay for the maintenance of bathrooms and air conditioners.
“We are also asked to finance some school activities including the year-end celebrations because the budget allocated by the Presidency of Girls’ Education is not enough,” one teacher said.
She questioned the role of two school facilities that regularly make money, the cafeteria and stationary.
“Revenues from these two utilities should cover school needs. We should not be asked to contribute toward maintenance work or school activities,” she said.
“We are often asked to donate money for colleagues who have financial problems. This is a good sign of solidarity, but it becomes a little absurd when we are asked to collect money for a colleague to have a test-tube baby, especially as the woman has no idea whether she needs one or not,” Manal said, questioning whether the Department of Education actually does its job in monitoring school principals.
