Abdullah now relies on women in different tasks, including supervising women-only events, designing different brochures and pamphlets and doing administrative duties. All his women employees interact with him through phone calls and e-mails.
But even though these employees are of great use to him, he says he can’t afford to establish a women’s section of his business because of restrictions on the mingling of the sexes, even in an office.
“I will have to pay SR20,000 in rent, let alone maintenance and office equipment,” he said. “Above all I wouldn’t know what was going on inside. Would they be working or not. How would I monitor and supervise them?”
Abdullah now works with women who work from home and get paid between SR1,800 and SR3,000 a month. He added that in Jeddah it is easy for him to interact with women, but in Riyadh women are more reluctant to work unless there is complete segregation of the genders.
“I tend to speak to the male guardians of the women who want to work with me so I don’t get myself in trouble if they find out,” he said.
Khaled Al-Harthi, CEO of ARC Consulting Group, who is also the chairman of the hospitality committee at the JCCI, disagreed with Abdullah’s claim that a women’s section is a financial burden because the added value and profits generated by having these employees would compensate for the added expenses.
Al-Harthi claims that Saudi law permits women to work even in restaurants at a minimum wage of SR2,500 a month. The reason why they don’t, he says, is because of the culture and tradition.
Al-Harthi says that his company had conducted studies that have shown that women are more productive than men.
“We are calling for more presence of women in both the private and public sectors,” he said. “The Saudi economy needs this presence and women need to be given trust.”
Al-Harthi explained that there are two general types of areas where women work. The first is in women-only sections inside companies and the second is women-run establishments that cater to women customers. The latter, according to Al-Harthi, is more appealing.
“To increase the presence of women in the Saudi market there must be more businesswomen who own their businesses,” he said. “To achieve that the regulations must be eased.”
He also said that more local government offices must provide access to women to allow them to conduct bureaucratic procedures without their male guardians. Even the municipal headquarters, he pointed out, has only one day a week where it will receive women. Local chambers of commerce must also provide more services to women.
Al-Harthi warned that if these difficulties are not eased, social breakdown could ensue.
“Women are now supporting themselves and their families and if the condition of families worsens, it could lead to stealing, corruption and other violations,” he said. “Big companies must have quotas for hiring women.”
