WUNRN
SAUDI ARABIA - SEXUAL HARASSMENT
December 7, 2011 - Men who are found guilty of
harassing women in
Zain al Abideen, a member of the Shoura council, which has the
power to propose laws to the King, urged "the council to follow the
example of countries like
The legal development comes at a time when there has been an increase in
complaints over harassment in the Kingdom, with streets such as
There are frequent reports in Saudi media about women being harassed. From
men accosting women in the streets to harassment in the work place, it is a
huge problem.
A survey conducted in 2009, Harassment and Challenges Faced by Saudi Women
Working with Men, focused on 1,000 Saudi women working in a wide range of
fields, from medicine and education to banking and the media.
It found that 21 percent of respondents had been subjected to unsolicited
forms of friendliness from their superiors and 35 percent from colleagues in
similar, or lower, positions.
Many of the survey respondents also complained about colleagues making
unsolicited flirtatious comments, with 28 percent complaining about unwanted
requests for meetings outside the work place, 24 percent of them having been
unnecessarily contacted late at night and 15 percent revealing that the
harassment they experienced extended to actual physical contact.
More worryingly, most of the women who took part in the survey said the
harassment caused them to worry about the possibility of losing their jobs or
acquiring a bad reputation.
If the new law goes ahead, they would have some recourse and men found
guilty of harassing women could face punishments ranging from public shaming
and fines to three years imprisonment in the most serious cases.
Under the proposed legislation, sexual harassment is defined as an
"honour crime". Its legal definition, which includes gestures and
speech, also does not require for physical contact to have taken place in order
for an offence to have occurred.
Managers should also beware that, if the law proceeds, demanding female
employees to stay late at the office under the pretext of overtime can also
leave themselves open to a charge of sexual harassment.