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Feminism: The Issue in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Feminism is not a concept, it is a social movement whose objective is to remove the barriers and obstacles so that women can have equal political, social and economic opportunities. The discrimination towards women is a historical phenomenon that has been addressed at the international level through different campaigns, movement and resolutions. Despite, women till today are not absolutely equal to men in different dimensions. The dilemma associated to the feminism is that in the most occasions, the most vocal voices in the society is not even willing to see women equal to them due to a common misconception that women are inherently inferior, lesser intelligent and subservient (Tong, 2009). Although feminism can be seen in every society regardless it is developing or developed despite, certain societies are still intense in allowing the female to participate equally in social life. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is a classic case of bifurcated society between men and women.

Figure 1: Feminist Revolution in KSA (Leggett, 2013)

Saudi society is known for its conservatism and feminist mindset as well as practices. Women in the country have long been striving to gain their fair share in the market however, the legal limitations and penalties have long barred them from publicly expressing their ideologies (Al Khamshi and Al Khielfe, 2017). Women in KSA has a range of limitations such as lack of freedom of movement in the international country without the permission of the Guardian (Kelly, 2009). The strong control of society on women is the primary factor for unsuccessful feminist movements in the country. In the past, women were not even allowed to vote for the local body elections (Duamato, 2010). However, things

Figure 2: Saudi Women Behind the Wheel (Elthawy, 2018)

have improved over the period and recently a number of actions taken by the Ruler in an attempt to decrease the conservativism to a mild and acceptable level. Women have granted permission to travel without the permission of the Guardian, they are allowed to drive and start a business without the intervention of a male Guardian in the family.

The development in Saudi society to remove the barriers for women is noticeable however, there is a need to further improve the situation. If the Saudi society will not allow women to freely participate in all walks of life then the economic structure will remain deprived of more than half of the population contribution in the economic development of the country. The country is in severe need to revive and channelise its human resources as the economic diversification objective in the form of Vision 2030 can be achieved if the entire country participates for the common objective (Al Khamshi and Al Khielfe, 2017). Women in KSA has the potential to apply their inherent skills and abilities if the opportunities will increase.

Figure 3: Feminiswm News and Political Cartoon (Chris, n.d.)

International law considers men and women equal (Fredman and Goldblatt, 2015: 6). In KSA, the unemployment rate of women is 33.2%, this is five times more than their male counterpart (Al Khamshi and Al Khielfe, 2017). Ministry of Labour issued four decrees that allowed women to work in clothing stores, food preparation, cashier and amusement park (ibid). In addition, female lawyers can obtain their practising licence hence can practise law on their own. These measures can be considered as a step towards better future despite, there are issues that require particular attention such as a negligible representation of women in Armed forces, aviation industry, space program, construction industry, certain areas of the medical profession and policing. The given list is not exhaustive as women in KSA are mainly limited to job roles that are care and protection centred such as school teaching and administration roles.

Saudi Arabia as of today is not as much economically relieved as it used to be in the past. A country economically struggling can best improve by channelizing its human resources. The women involvement in all walks of life means a vibrant and fresh mentality in every market sector hence productivity can be improved. It is a common understanding that men in KSA are discriminatory against women. Therefore, if women will be allowed to participate in different employment roles then men would consider it as challenging hence they will improve their own performance to maintain their control in the respective position. This competitive situation can lead to better performance by men. However, piecemeal changes can be accepted for society instead of abrupt changes.

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Gender Inequality: The Problem in the Construction Industry

Gender inequality has been an issue for debate for long, this has attracted attention and action of the policymakers. According to Arulampalam et al. (2007) over the last 10 years, the gender gap in relation to economic opportunity and education decreased by 4%. However, the snail pace in resolving the issue will take another 120 years to remove the gender gap. Despite, there is continuous progress in different walks of life. The gender gap is in respect of working opportunities, pay gap, treatment, incentives and social behaviours (Rudman and Glick, 2008). There are some areas where gender inequality is still a significant issue. The construction industry is one market sector where gender discrimination is blatantly high.

Figure 4: Gender Inequality in the Construction Industry (LinkedIn, 2015)

Construction industry comprises of skills and an unskilled workforce whose working opportunities and approach to the work is distinctive. In the entire construction industry, the women representation is less than 1% (Moncaster and Dillon, 2018). There are approximately 800,000 construction workers in the UK. The total strength in the construction industry involves those that are performing office-based work. However, less than 1% representation means that women are not even getting sufficient opportunities in office-based work in a construction company. According to Lift (2018), apart from fieldwork in the construction industry, women representation is less than 18%. It implies that women are restricted to certain roles in the industry such as architects, planners and surveyors. The outcome of this inequality is evident from the fact that for the last ten years construction industry is squeezing as half of the potential labour (women workers) is almost left out of this market sector. This led to a lack of diversity in the sector, the diversity is required in any field to have a range of opinions, team formation and approach to the work.

Figure 5: Gender Equaltiy can Fix Construction Industry Problem (Moncaster and Dillon, 2018)

The precarious working arrangement in the construction filed is making intolerable for women working to retain their position in the construction industry. This is the reason that women still involved in this market sector are either leaving it or preferring to leave it (Moncaster and Dillon, 2018). Generally, women are in minority for any construction project, the male dominant working environment tends to make it uncomfortable for women to operate, express their ideas and stand for their right. According to Costa-Lopes et al., (2013), gender inequality is not an issue of equality, it is also an issue of performance. The empirical research has revealed that the adequate representation in a team leads to the competitive working environment hence the performance of the team improves (Lift, 2018). The women have even bleak representation in the executive roles on the board of construction companies. The outcome of this situation is imperfect team formation, monotonous working practices and rigid policies.

Figure 6: Improving Gender Equality in Construction Companies (UK Construction Online, 2019)

The alarming state of gender inequality in the construction industry can be due to the inadequate working environment. Women working in different roles in the construction industry cannot get a voice to their demand and needs hence they are reluctant in promoting the construction industry as a potential future for other women (Garner, 2018). The inadequate working environment undermines the potential of women involve in a construction project hence they are considered as unfit for the relevant role in the industry. The human participation cannot achieve its optimal level if required atmosphere and environment is not provided (Smith, 2016). The gender gap in the construction industry is not only adversely influencing the performance of women in the industry, but in addition, it is also a negative factor for the image of companies that are operating in the market sector.

There is no dedicated social sector that is dedicated to any certain gender. Women are actively serving in military roles around the world, this shows that women are fit for service in any filed including the construction industry. Women can challenge the status quo by incorporating a unique perspective and ideology to the organisation. The absence of this perspective results in a stalemate situation for skill development in the construction industry. The improvement in the construction industry can be possible if women will be given executive roles so that they can make policies feasible for women participation in construction projects.

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Self-Reflective Statement

Reflection is a review exercise in which an individual considers the past situation or experience to achieve learning for the future. Reflection is a systematic process that initiates from considering the past situation and ends at the learning objectives for the future (Middleton, 2017). This reflection exercise considers the learning from the module “Deconstructing Gender” by applying the Gibbs reflection cycle. Gibbs (1988) developed a reflection model based on six stages. The six stages are description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and action plan. The six stages are given in the figure below.

Figure 7: Gibbs Reflection Cycle (Gibbs, 1988)

Reflecting on the module “Deconstructing Gender” reveals that the module has increased the scope of thinking. The module has enabled to consider the gender-specific issues from a new and unique perspective. The task assigned in the module of writing a blog was an entirely new experience hence it was daunting at the start. The task required writing two blogs based on own developed areas of research. Although the module had provided different areas every week despite, thinking of a topic for a blog was quite challenging. I was not quite confident to understand the way the blog can be different than other forms of academic writing. I discussed the task with my classmates, in addition, I read a few blogs to understand the way a blog has to be written. I had carried out preliminary reading for some topics included in the module. All the exercise and background reading proved to be useful whose outcome came in the form of reasonably completed blogs for the module.

I wanted to write about something practical and an issue that is existing in the market. Therefore, I decided to explore gender-specific issues in the region where I belong to, this provided me with several ideas related to feminism. Apart from this, I wanted to explore gender discrimination in a market sector that is quite obvious yet undermined for several reasons. Although my approach was practical despite, my scope of thinking could be limited as I was thinking from the regional perspective instead of thinking from the international perspective. It was a safe strategy for me as it helped in generating workable topics for the blogs. Gender is not a regional issue, it is an international issue as it is against the International law that demands equality.

The alternative topics can be rape cases in the case of developing countries such as India and female trafficking around the world. I could also improve my blogs by allocating more time for them however, the final outcome was reasonable. Finally, I am satisfied with my effort and outcome of the entire exercise, however, if the similar task has to be done again then I would prefer to arrange a meeting with the lecture so that the opinion of the lecture can guide to lead in the more productive direction.

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