Blog 1; Saudi Arabia Women and the Work Force

The battle for women's rights seems to be an ongoing fight for the women of Saudi Arabia. The government, along with religious leaders, have set very strict boundaries for women of Saudi Arabia. These leaders believe that women and men are "different but equal". These leaders say that men have a role and that is to be the guardian, money maker, decision maker, and head of their household whereas women are to stay in the home, take care of the children, not take on a job, and to completely obey men. By giving women jobs, the religious understanding of gender roles is challenged. But lately the workforce has been more female friendly. The number of jobs for Saudi women although  just slightly, has increased in the past few months. But with new jobs comes new laws. The king of Saudi Arabia has a plan to replace foreign male sales clerks with women. That is good for the women as there would be more open jobs but some conservatives oppose this plan to prevent gender mixing. In 2011 some sales markets were ordered to be run only by women, such as lingerie shops.

As I am reading this article I am excited to hear that jobs for women in Saudi Arabia have increased, although it does not surprise me that the men of Saudi Arabia are still in total control over the very few jobs that women may obtain. The idea that the government and religious leaders see men and women as "different but equal" is their way to justify that women do have "work" to do but it is not the same type of work that men do. It is believed that women cannot do the same type of work that men can do because they lack the physical and mental strength that men have. Therefore the women are forced to stay home to cook and clean and take care of the children. The women become completely obtain to men. For reasons like this women's unemployment rate is still four times as high as the men's, even with the few opening jobs.

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/22/workplace-battle-continues-for-saudi-women/