USA TODAY International Edition
Saudi Arabia takes baby steps on women
Barriers to participation in workforce remain
WASHINGTON – Saudi Arabia wants women in the workforce, but their workplaces may be separate from men.
Saudi Commerce Minister Majed bin Abdullah Al Qasabi, in Washington as part of a royal delegation visiting with President Trump last week, said women are key to Saudi Arabia’s ambitious goals for economic growth, but they need a place where they can “work with dignity.”
Asked if Saudi workplaces of the future should be coed to accommodate more female workers, Qasabi said that “it’s up for the organization” to decide how to structure its work environment.
If a business wants to hire women, “maybe they have their own special access, special environment, a special room, so it’s up to the organization,” he said. But he said such segregation “is not necessary.”
In a country where women need permission from men to marry, obtain a passport and travel abroad, the conversation around women in the workplace marks a new, albeit incremental, step toward more freedom for women.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has appointed women to leadership positions at government ministries, promised to allow women to drive later this year, curtailed the power of the religious police who enforced women’s behavior, and announced an end to unauthorized male guardianship requirements that date to the country’s tribal rules from a century ago.
Yet he admits there’s more to be done.
“Today, Saudi women still have not received their full rights,” the crown prince told CBS’s 60 Minutes last Sunday. “These are rights stipulated in Islam that they still don’t have. We have come a very long way and have a short way to go.”
At least one human rights group is skeptical of the prince’s promises, as many have not come to fruition.
Despite a 2017 decree to end “unofficial” male guardianship restrictions, the requirement remains intact, according to Human Rights Watch. Adult women must obtain permission from a husband, father, brother or son to travel, marry or be released from prison. Workplaces, schools and hospitals often require a guardian’s consent for a woman to obtain a job, education or health care.
Sarah Whitson, the Middle East and North Africa director of Human Rights Watch, said while “signals by the crown prince are welcome,” the changes promised haven’t been made.
“All this is happening in the shadow of severe repression,” Whitson said.
Government officials prevented mixed gatherings of men and women in public and private settings, according to the State Department’s 2016 human rights report, which came out a year ago.
During 2016, the most senior position held by a woman in government was vice president for women’s affairs of the General Sports Authority. And according to the National Transformation Program, 39.8% of government employees (excluding the military) were women, while women occupied 1.27% of top government positions, the State Department report said.
“Some companies say they don’t hire women because they don’t have the facilities to provide segregated workplaces,” Whitson said.
Whitson said there are many reports of women still in prison for disobeying their male guardians.
“We have to be very careful about not letting them get the benefit of positive PR for things they haven’t done,” she said.
The system can be traced to “social habits and tribal thinking that had taken over even the religious laws and regulation,” Qasabi said.