Saudi women have proven themselves in leadership roles

The column was originally published in Arab news

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An extraordinary thing happened this week in Riyadh. Maybe it wouldn’t be so special in another country, but for Saudi Arabia it was a moment that makes one stand up and take notice.
That special event occurred at the Shoura Council meeting where Dr. Muneera Al-Osaimi and Dr. Afaf Altuwaitjri, the first women to become members of the inner circle of the Ministry of Health, rose and spoke before Shoura Council members about the ministry’s projects.
They were the first women to address the council. The council chambers reverberated with thunderous applause from an appreciative audience, but the sky did not fall and the ground did not shake. Rather, peace prevailed in the Kingdom.
Yes, I may sound a little sarcastic, but the event should put to rest any criticism of women actively engaging in government business. Consider the significance of the event: Two women — not on a video monitor — addressing the all-male Shoura Council. Their presence fills me with hope and optimism that women will have an active role in Shoura Council matters and not remain as mere observers.

Al-Osaimi and Altuwaitjri demonstrated that women are capable of handling the same job as men and the responsibility that comes with it. If these women could defend the important programs implemented by the Ministry of Health, then it stands to reason that they could do the same as Shoura Council members.
King Abdullah, through his wisdom and forward thinking, has opened many doors for women over the past seven years.
The university scholarship program that bears his name and the employment opportunities in the retail business sector are only two of many examples of the strides women have made in such a short time.
Working women are becoming true members of Saudi society. Name me one ministry that does not touch the lives of Saudi women.
If women become the beneficiaries of decisions made by these ministries, shouldn’t they also be part of the decision-making process?
Shouldn’t decisions affecting the lives of millions of Saudi women be made by women and for women?
I am not suggesting that decisions affecting the lives of women be made solely by females. But certainly the doors to high levels of government, such as levels that now include Al-Osaimi and Altuwaitjri, should be open to women to help in the decision-making process.
We have already witnessed Saudi women taking control of their lives. For one, Saudi women are waiting longer to get married. And for those who do get married, they are seeing the Saudi divorce rate rise rapidly.

The reasons are obvious. Women are no longer settling for living the way their mothers and grandmothers did. They understand there is a world out there that is inviting. Pursuing an education, jobs and marriage are decisions they want to make, not have others make for them.
But they also need a little help in making those decisions. Women in strategic positions in government, whether it’s the Shoura Council or in the ministries, will help them achieve their goals while at the same time help them remain true to Islam, their families and to their country.
Yet there are signs that restrictions on Saudi women stubbornly remain. Passport restrictions were finally lifted for Saudi women to visit Gulf Cooperation Council countries, but receiving permission to leave the country just got a little more difficult.
Women traveling alone used to carry a yellow card from their mahram that gave them permission to leave the country.
Now that card — a hard copy that single women cherish almost as much as their passport — is now replaced by an online version.
The mahram must go to the passport office and register his permission online.
Passport control officers at the border will view the permission online, which deprives the woman from having physical evidence that she has permission to leave the country. She will be at the mercy that the passport office competently registered the mahram’s permission.
This contrast between the trust the Ministry of Health demonstrated by giving its two female administrators the job of addressing the Shoura Council and the policy of keeping women on a short leash, as evidenced with the new passport office regulations, is painful.
Saudi women have come a long way in the past 10 years. This week’s wonderful reception from appreciative Shoura Council members toward their sisters is heartening for all women.
It’s my hope that the trust and appreciation so evident by the Shoura Council will extend to giving women a chance to join the council as full voting members and allow them the freedom, with consultation from their families, to choose their own path.

Stigma Impedes Women Nurses’ Independence

This column originally was published in the Arab News.

ONE of the first events I attended in Saudi Arabia after a five-year absence to study in the United Kingdom was a graduation ceremony for women nursing students at the King Saud bin Abdulaziz University Nursing College in Jeddah.

I watched the graduating nurses walking and speaking with confidence during the ceremonies as they chanted, “I am a nurse and I am proud of it.”

Their English was fluent and they spoke of serving their country with “dignity, honor and self-esteem.”
Seated with the graduating nurses was Princess Hessa bint Trad Al-Shaalan, King Abdullah’s wife, who handed each nurse her certificate and treated them all like a proud mother.

Princess Hessa’s presence at the graduation ceremony was significant as it signaled the king’s continued support to empower women to obtain an education and find employment.

Yet thousands of Saudi women earning university degrees in the Kingdom or returning home after obtaining certificates from foreign universities face a tight job market. However, nursing as a woman’s occupation remains a relatively open field that has been largely ignored by Saudis because of the stigma attached to female nurses working in a mixed environment and caring male patients in a manner considered too familiar.

Judging from the attitudes I witnessed at the graduation ceremony, Saudi women’s attitudes are changing. Saudi society in general? Not so much.

Saudi conservatives have taken a hard line against women working in nursing because they work under the supervision of men and work as colleagues. Saudi women nurses are also perceived as glorified maids. While teaching at the nursing college, my students often face harsh opposition from their fathers and brothers. Some students told me that their fathers and brothers only agreed to allow them to become a nurse on the condition the women give them their stipends or salaries once they become employed. Some nursing students quit the university in mid-semester under immense pressure from their families.

It’s no wonder that there is a chronic shortage of Saudis, particularly women, in the health care industry.

The first Saudi female nursing college originated in 1961 and offered a two-year program. By 1992, there were 46 health institutes in Saudi Arabia. In 2008, the last year nursing statistics were available from the Ministry of Health, there were 101,298 nurses employed in the government health care sector.

Yet Saudis accounted for only 29 percent of those nurses. The numbers are even more dismal in private health care facilities: Only 4 percent of the private health care professionals were Saudi.
According to a 2011 International Nursing Review study, only 12 percent of all Saudi nurses are women.

Turnover in employment, according to the same study, remains high because of the lack of awareness in nursing job opportunities, conflicts with the family and difficult working conditions, such as night shifts, long hours, working holidays and weekends, and relatively low salaries.

Despite these obstacles, the women I have spoken to want these jobs and are willing to put up with the modest income and difficult working hours.

Notwithstanding the families who abuse their daughters and sisters’ trust by demanding their salaries in exchange for having a job, most Saudi women want the independence and tremendous boost in self-esteem that comes with that independence.

Teachers don’t teach and journalists don’t write to become rich. They perform their jobs to serve their community. They make the world a better place to live by teaching their community’s children or providing information to help people better understand the world. The same applies to nursing. What better way to serve our community by aiding the sick and dying. It’s a noble profession that deserves better treatment from Saudi society.

And for those women seeking financial fulfillment and security, nursing offers a stepping stone to higher paying administrative jobs, management positions in the government or private health sector, or even as a medical doctor.

I have high hopes for the graduating nurses at my university, but I also appreciate the obstacles they face from their families, friends and even the patients they will care for. It won’t be easy. If we continue to cling to outmoded ideas, traditions and customs, we set up Saudi women for failure.

I see today’s young women with their new nursing certificates as trailblazers who honor and further the cause of the first female nursing graduating class from 1963. But I also have to wonder why is it that 49 years later Saudis still struggle to give female nurses the respect they deserve.

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The picture is taken from  http://www.kfshrc.edu.sa