Stop brain drain of professional Saudi women

TWO news stories published earlier this month got me to thinking about the future of professional Saudi women.

Just where do they fit in Saudi society and what contributions will they make – or maybe it’s better to say, allowed to make – as working professionals in Saudi Arabia.

The Boston Globe reported that 13 Saudi women recently completed an international diplomacy course sponsored jointly by Dar Al-Hekma College and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

The same week, Bahrain’s Gulf Daily News published an interview with Saudi writer Wajeha Al-Huawaider, who warned that Saudi women studying abroad are reluctant to return home because they enjoy the freedom of independent living and they want to pursue greater employment opportunities.

These seemingly unrelated articles actually convey similar themes that dominate the lives of Saudi women. And in the case of women seeking diplomatic careers, it raises the inherent conflict Saudi women feel about the intense patriotism they feel for their country and the desire for their country to treat them better.There is no question that the Ministry of Higher Education has done much in recent years to provide scholarships for women to study abroad.

I am the beneficiary of such a program. The intent by the ministry is to give Saudi women a Western education so they can return home and contribute to society much like their fathers and uncles have done in the 1970s and ‘80s.

One reason why Saudi Arabia has flourished in the international business community over 30 years is because thousands of men studied in the West and brought that knowledge home to apply it to Saudi business practices.

Now women are given similar opportunities. But there is a twist. The reality is the Ministry of Higher Education wants its women to get the best education possible. The fantasy is that there will be well-paying jobs, respect and opportunities for advancement in the workplace.I’ve always admired the work performed at Dar Al-Hekma, with many of its bold and aggressive programs to prepare women for the workplace.

Its relationship with the Fletcher School is a prime example.Suhair Al-Qurashi, president of Dar Al-Hekma, told the Boston Globe, “We want women ambassadors, women officials, women leaders – not women working in the office.

My efforts here will push the ministry (of foreign affairs) to make serious steps. Now they have no excuse. We have a prepared group, and they are not secretary material.”Al-Qurashi is correct.

The ministry will have no excuse. But that doesn’t mean jobs will magically appear once these 13 young women apply. The reality is that only a fraction of the diplomatic corps in Washington, D.C. is female.This brings to mind Wajeha Al-Huawaider’s calls for Saudi women studying in Bahrain and other countries to return home with their new education and experience in foreign countries.

She complained that Saudi women searching for too much freedom abroad is a dangerous trend because they will be reluctant to return home to fight for change.The problem with Al-Huawaider’s concern is that many Saudi women don’t want to fight the good fight for greater freedom, demand driving rights and seek high-level positions in private and government institutions.

Do they want these things? Of course. But rather than pick up the cause, most young women are only too aware that they have one life to live. They feel they would be better served enjoying living an independent and rich life rather than beating their head against a brick wall because their male boss either feels threatened by their talent or wants them as a second wife.

I have spoken to many Saudi women. They view their future after earning a university degree as living outside Saudi Arabia, marrying a non-Saudi and being employed by a company that doesn’t care about the status of her family or whether she will be perceived as a “good Muslim girl.”

Why worry about a supervisor who thinks a woman is loose because she works in a mixed environment when you can work for a boss who is only interested in the results and quality of her work?That’s why it’s interesting to see that Saudi women want to become diplomats.

They have the best of both worlds. They demonstrate their loyalty by representing Saudi Arabia in the most prestigious way. They live abroad. And for the most part their lives are independent. Take that a step further.

Saudi women with international experience and education are eager to find employment with the United Nations, an NGO or a Middle East company based in the West. By Saudi standards, that is complete freedom.If the Saudi government beyond the Ministry of Education truly wants to benefit from the experiences of Saudi women, then an education is simply not enough.

Only through efforts to change the environment in the workplace and in government offices will Saudi Arabia be allowed to benefit from giving women an education. Today, living and working abroad is appealing.

Stop brain drain of professional Saudi women

TWO news stories published earlier this month got me to thinking about the future of professional Saudi women.

Just where do they fit in Saudi society and what contributions will they make – or maybe it’s better to say, allowed to make – as working professionals in Saudi Arabia.

The Boston Globe reported that 13 Saudi women recently completed an international diplomacy course sponsored jointly by Dar Al-Hekma College and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

The same week, Bahrain’s Gulf Daily News published an interview with Saudi writer Wajeha Al-Huawaider, who warned that Saudi women studying abroad are reluctant to return home because they enjoy the freedom of independent living and they want to pursue greater employment opportunities.

These seemingly unrelated articles actually convey similar themes that dominate the lives of Saudi women. And in the case of women seeking diplomatic careers, it raises the inherent conflict Saudi women feel about the intense patriotism they feel for their country and the desire for their country to treat them better.There is no question that the Ministry of Higher Education has done much in recent years to provide scholarships for women to study abroad.

I am the beneficiary of such a program. The intent by the ministry is to give Saudi women a Western education so they can return home and contribute to society much like their fathers and uncles have done in the 1970s and ‘80s.

One reason why Saudi Arabia has flourished in the international business community over 30 years is because thousands of men studied in the West and brought that knowledge home to apply it to Saudi business practices.

Now women are given similar opportunities. But there is a twist. The reality is the Ministry of Higher Education wants its women to get the best education possible. The fantasy is that there will be well-paying jobs, respect and opportunities for advancement in the workplace.I’ve always admired the work performed at Dar Al-Hekma, with many of its bold and aggressive programs to prepare women for the workplace.

Its relationship with the Fletcher School is a prime example.Suhair Al-Qurashi, president of Dar Al-Hekma, told the Boston Globe, “We want women ambassadors, women officials, women leaders – not women working in the office.

My efforts here will push the ministry (of foreign affairs) to make serious steps. Now they have no excuse. We have a prepared group, and they are not secretary material.”Al-Qurashi is correct.

The ministry will have no excuse. But that doesn’t mean jobs will magically appear once these 13 young women apply. The reality is that only a fraction of the diplomatic corps in Washington, D.C. is female.This brings to mind Wajeha Al-Huawaider’s calls for Saudi women studying in Bahrain and other countries to return home with their new education and experience in foreign countries.

She complained that Saudi women searching for too much freedom abroad is a dangerous trend because they will be reluctant to return home to fight for change.The problem with Al-Huawaider’s concern is that many Saudi women don’t want to fight the good fight for greater freedom, demand driving rights and seek high-level positions in private and government institutions.

Do they want these things? Of course. But rather than pick up the cause, most young women are only too aware that they have one life to live. They feel they would be better served enjoying living an independent and rich life rather than beating their head against a brick wall because their male boss either feels threatened by their talent or wants them as a second wife.

I have spoken to many Saudi women. They view their future after earning a university degree as living outside Saudi Arabia, marrying a non-Saudi and being employed by a company that doesn’t care about the status of her family or whether she will be perceived as a “good Muslim girl.”

Why worry about a supervisor who thinks a woman is loose because she works in a mixed environment when you can work for a boss who is only interested in the results and quality of her work?That’s why it’s interesting to see that Saudi women want to become diplomats.

They have the best of both worlds. They demonstrate their loyalty by representing Saudi Arabia in the most prestigious way. They live abroad. And for the most part their lives are independent. Take that a step further.

Saudi women with international experience and education are eager to find employment with the United Nations, an NGO or a Middle East company based in the West. By Saudi standards, that is complete freedom.If the Saudi government beyond the Ministry of Education truly wants to benefit from the experiences of Saudi women, then an education is simply not enough. Only through efforts to change the environment in the workplace and in government offices will Saudi Arabia be allowed to benefit from giving women an education. Today, living and working abroad is appealing.

Inflation breaking our backbone

Sabria S. Jawhar

Saudi Gazette

THERE is a perception that Saudis are rolling in money as the price of a barrel of oil hovers around $130. Americans have cut their driving drastically as a gallon of gasoline sells for $4.50, while we Saudis continue driving our Escalades and Hummers without much care.

Well, yes, actually we are driving our big cars and paying relatively low prices for gasoline. And I don’t feel too guilty about it. But are we living in the lap of luxury and laughing all the way to the bank as the West sheds tears of frustration because they have to buy small cars? No we’re not.

There is something to be said that the Saudi government is using its oil wealth to build huge new cities and universities to guarantee our economic future with or without oil. But the average Saudi is hardly sitting pretty atop a huge pile of money.

Like elsewhere in the world, Saudis are suffering the same fate as an average American or British family. Inflation is out of control and is creating significant hardships among the poor and middle class.

This week the Ministry of Economy and Planning’s Central Department of Statistics announced that Saudi Arabia’s annual inflation climbed 10.6 percent in June, marking a 30-year high as food and housing costs increase.“We could be reaching some kind of plateau within three months but we don’t see a rampant inflation that is out of control,” said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at SABB bank, HSBC’s subsidiary in Saudi Arabia.

Well, maybe Sfakianakis doesn’t see rampant inflation, but there is enough anecdotal evidence to indicate that Saudis have been hit hard.The report notes that food and beverage costs increased 15.8 percent in June compared with a hike of 15.1 percent in May. Rents, fuel and water skyrocketed nearly 19 percent in June as well.

Monica Malik, chief economist at EFG-Hermes Holding SAE, Egypt’s investment bank, said that “Saudi inflation is still going to be rent and food-driven for the rest of the year. We expect some stabilization in food prices (in the future).”That is not much comfort to people trying to feed their families.

As the expression goes, when two elephants fight in the jungle, it’s the grass that is the first victim. Wall Street speculators are driving up the cost of oil and big mortgage banks in the US gave away risky loans creating a real estate collapse not seen since the Depression of the 1930s.

Now the chickens are coming home to roost as the US dollar weakens and inflation soars on a global level.Next time you go to the supermarket, check out the buying habits of your neighbors. Saudis, for better or for worse, reveled in leisure grocery shopping.

By that I mean they rarely used a calculator to keep track of costs, didn’t use shopping lists, and if they felt a little blue or bored, they took off for the supermarket or local mall for a little shopping to brighten their day.

Today, I see more and more couples with a calculator in their hands and making demands on clerks that products have a price tag attached or a label on the shelf. The lower class, always mindful of the value of a Saudi riyal, are much more careful with their grocery budget and spend more time in the market to ensure they get the best value for their money.

All of this, by Saudi society standards, is unusual if not somewhat disturbing.I’ve been abroad for a while, so the contrast from what I saw last year and now is rather startling. I understand the public sector salaries have been increased to compensate at least for some of the inflation, but private businesses have not necessarily followed.

And many upper class Saudis are still reeling under losses in the stock market. Many Saudis and expats are left to fend for themselves in a financial environment that does not look promising. Analysts can predict all they want about how inflation may level off, but prices are not likely to drop.

What I’ve seen since I returned to Saudi Arabia for my summer vacation is a general atmosphere of depression. A realization that the economic benefits we have enjoyed with relative low prices of goods, food and fuel have been chipped away to the point that our lifestyle is about to change in a way that will make putting food on the table more of a struggle.