Hundreds of female engineers pass out from our universities and colleges every year to join their male counterparts in the labor market. But did we make any arrangement to enable them and provide them with job opportunities?
Before continuing our discussion, let us have a look at the available data about female engineers. Female engineers have already proved their mettle. Saudi women engineers represent several consultative engineering offices in the Gulf region, Lebanon and other countries. They compete very well in terms of quality, skills and innovation. Many years ago, a Saudi woman engineer was appointed to work in the diplomatic quarter project. She proved to be creative but after completion of the project, she found herself unemployed and nobody was prepared to hire her. In the Riyadh Metro project, there are many female engineers working efficiently with their male counterparts.
This makes me wonder why we let our girls join engineering colleges when we can’t find jobs for them. Engineering is a specialized profession that depends on skill, competence and creativity. Compared to men, women in general are more creative in practical fields. But here they are marginalized and ignored.
I believe that solving this problem is not complicated or impossible. What we need is more organization and a timetable and to accommodate female engineers through a special quota system. Then we should regulate admission to the universities in accordance with the public sector’s requirements. We should also ensure that the private sector recruits these female engineers in a way that safeguards their dignity. To do this, I suggest the formation of an authority to be in charge of following up appointment of the Saudi women engineers and terms of contracts and market fluctuations.
This authority could be composed of Saudi engineers or it could take the form of a special department at the Labor Ministry. This authority could work out rules and regulations for the recruitment mechanism to protect the Saudi women engineers from pressures of the work management in the private sector. I know that there are many educated Saudi girls in other specializations. They too should be given the same protection and care.
