Saudi Arabia to Segregate Men, Women in
Bank Headquarters
Reuters - 25 June, 2007
Saudi authorities have ordered banks to separate female and
male workers at their headquarters in a new setback for women's rights in the
conservative kingdom.
Banks are one of the main employers of women in
Saudi Arabia. Though women are already separated from male employees in
branches, they have up to now worked together in bank headquarters.
Under the new system, women employees in bank headquarters could now be
obliged to work on separate floors and use different lifts, entrances and
canteens from men.
"We are gutted. The flow of business will be
ridiculous and we will not be able to attend important meetings, which will
significantly hamper our career development," a senior Saudi woman banker said
on condition of anonymity.
"We graduated to work in banks because they
offered unparalleled career development opportunity in the kingdom, and now
this. We are making one step forward and ten steps backwards," she added.
Saudi Arabia's strict Islamic law and customs stop unrelated men and
women from mixing, banning them from driving cars and voting in municipal
elections.
Some senior Saudi officials have expressed support for women
joining the labour force in a country where expatriates hold nearly 90 per cent
of jobs in the private sector.
But the powerful religious establishment
has strongly resisted any changes, Western diplomats say.
There are up
to 3,000 Saudi women among an estimated 60,000 employees in Saudi banks.
Managers from three Saudi banks said the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency
(SAMA) – the country's central bank-and Labour Ministry officials held a meeting
earlier this month with bank managers to inform them of the new system. "They
want to end the mixing of genders at banks' headquarters. They have initially
given us one month to comply but later extended the deadline to the end of the
summer holidays," said one of the managers on condition of
anonymity.