Saudi Women Power Ahead By Seeking Train Drivers Jobs
27 January 2022
•
Saudi Women Power Ahead By Seeking Train Drivers Jobs
•
Protest March In Bengaluru Against Harassment Of Muslim Women Over Hijab N
Karnataka
•
Bangladesh Skipper Nigar Sultana Considers Maiden Women's World Cup Appearance
As 'Big Opportunity'
•
They Served, Too. New Database Shows Black Women’s Service In World War II.
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/saudi-women-train-drivers/d/126468
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Saudi
Women Power Ahead By Seeking Train Drivers Jobs
It
is the first time train driver jobs have been advertised for women in Saudi
Arabia/ GETTY IMAGES
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Dr.
Mohamed Ramady
February
26, 2022
A
recent report about a job advert to recruit 30 female train drivers attracting
28,000 applicants in Saudi Arabia made global headlines for many reasons. Some
commented that such an enthusiastic response to the advertised jobs could only
have occurred due to the ongoing measures the Kingdom is taking to empower women
in all spheres of life. It would be instructive to note that Saudi women were
legally allowed to drive in 2018.
Others
commented that such a huge response indicated a pent-up demand for work
opportunities among Saudi women, notwithstanding the romanticism associated
with long-distance train journeys such as the Moscow to Beijing Trans Siberian
Railroad or the London to Venice Orient Express.
In
Saudi Arabia, the 30 selected female drivers will drive somewhat faster bullet
trains between the cities of Makkah and Madinah operated by the Spanish railway
operator Renfe, after a year of paid training. Inter-GCC and cross-country rail
links in the Kingdom will open up more opportunities in the future for both
male and female drivers.
The
enthusiasm for this hitherto male-dominated sector is that job opportunities
for Saudi women, have until recently, been limited to roles such as teachers
and health workers. Things are, however, changing for the better as Saudi women
are now joining the financial sector, and taking up jobs previously restricted
to men or migrant workers whether as private taxi service drivers or airline
hostesses.
The
opening up of the Saudi tourism and hospitality sector has also attracted
significant Saudi female interest. All these factors have led to the doubling
of female participation in the Saudi workforce in the last five years to around
33 percent. The trend of lower youth unemployment is also encouraging for the
20-24 year group, which fell to 23.6 percent from 28 percent in the first quarter
of 2021.
However,
Saudi female unemployment rates remain higher than males, with the female rate
at 21.2 percent in Q1 2021, compared with 7.2 percent for males in the same
period. However, the opening up of opportunities for Saudi females has reduced
the overall female unemployment rate from 24.4 percent in Q4 2020 to the latest
estimate of 21.2 percent according to the official data. Despite such an
improvement, the overall Saudi female labor force participation rate remains
stubbornly higher than that of males at 32.3 percent in Q1 2021 compared with
66.2 percent males.
Diversifying
the Saudi economy away from oil dependency and public sector jobs continue to
be a major objective for Saudi Arabia. The latest official data indicates that
in Q1 2021, around 54 percent of all Saudis held jobs in the public sector
versus 44 percent in the private sector. Speedier recovery from the
pandemic-related restrictions and a more optimistic outlook by the private
sector is predicted to improve the overall private sector participation rate,
with the unemployment rate forecast to decline to 10.3 percent by the end of
2022.
What
is of interest is that while almost 60 percent of those employed in the public
sector were Saudi males, this was reversed in the private sector, where almost
60 percent were Saudi female employees indicating an increasing trend for the
Saudi private sector to prefer Saudi female employees, especially in health and
social work, education, wholesale and retail.
A
post-pandemic pickup in tourism in Q2 2022 should also help boost seasonal
employment in the Kingdom, particularly for qualified female workers. Not to be
outdone by the enthusiastic female response to the train driver recruitment
drive the Red Sea Development Co. has had over 40,000 job applicants and
recruited the first batch of 60 graduates noting its tourism’s transformational
potential to create 120,000 direct and indirect jobs. There are currently
1,500-employees with more than 50 percent comprising Saudi nationals.
Other
sectoral areas such as accommodation and food, administration support, and even
manufacturing have seen a steady increase in female participation, as well as
in previously male-dominated sectors such as technical activities.
The
opening up of the Saudi economy with constant reminders of mega value projects
and initiatives promising an optimistic vision of the future where everything
is seemingly possible for both genders has raised high expectations for jobs
from a relatively youthful population, as the overwhelming response of 28,000
applicants for 30 female train drivers has highlighted.
There
is now a need for urgency for a significant increase in new and consistent job
creation for both genders, particularly in the private sector. The announced
and planned megaprojects have to ensure that labor localization programs are
central to such projects, especially for government contract awards to the
private sector to avoid frustration and disappointment at the lack of
meaningful new job opportunities.
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2032296
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Protest
March In Bengaluru Against Harassment Of Muslim Women Over Hijab N Karnataka
Several women, trans persons, LGBTQI persons and
citizens walk from city railway station to Freedom Park asserting the
fundamental rights to education, dignity and solidarity with Muslim students
and communities, in Bengaluru. Credit: DH Photo
-----
Chiranjeevi
Kulkarni
FEB 27 2022
A
protest march on Saturday called out the growing harassment of Muslim women in
Karnataka.
More
than 100 activists, students, teachers, academicians, writers, social workers,
artists and transgender persons marched from the KRS Bengaluru railway station
to Freedom Park calling for upholding the dignity, plurality and peace
guaranteed in th...
“Women’s
fundamental right to dignity and education is being violated. In colleges
across Karnataka, Muslim women have been denied entry if they chose to wear
Hijab. TV channels have sensationalised the videos of teachers being forced to
remove Hijab...
They
demanded that students be allowed to take exams. Those unable to attend class
should be given full attendance and additional classes should be conducted to
compensate for the missed classes. “The media should stop its unethical
coverage which is...
Source:
Deccan Herald
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Bangladesh
Skipper Nigar Sultana Considers Maiden Women's World Cup Appearance As 'Big
Opportunity'
By
IANS News
February
26, 2022
Bangladesh
skipper Nigar Sultana said their maiden appearance in the ICC Women's Cricket
World Cup is a 'big opportunity' for her team. Come March 5, Bangladesh will be
the newest team to enter the Women's Cricket World Cup fold when they will face
South Africa at University Oval in Dunedin.
"I
think this is a big opportunity for all of us. We've been working so hard for
this and this is our first ever World Cup. I think if we could do well here, it
will be a great moment in Bangladesh cricket," said Nigar during the
captains' virtual media conference on Saturday.
Nigar
also felt that coming to New Zealand early in order to acclimatise to the
conditions will keep them in good stead ahead of warm-up matches against
England and Pakistan on Monday and Wednesday respectively.
"We
came a bit early just because we wanted to adapt to the wickets and the
conditions because we have never played here in New Zealand conditions. So, we
have had a lot of good quality practice sessions here, we are trying to assess
the wicket and, in the conditions, I think our girls have done very well.
Nigar
believes that a mix of experienced as well as young players along with
understanding of their roles will make her life easy during the World Cup.
"We
want to make this World Cup memorable because this is our first-ever World Cup.
We want to play and deliver to our best. We have good quality experienced
players in our team, which makes my job easier because they understand how
important their roles are in my team.
"They
already know what they need to do in main matches. There are a lot of young
players who have been doing well in the last couple of months and put in lot of
wonderful efforts. We are looking to do well in the main matches."
"I
guess we do have a good bowling attack as well as in the batting. But I think
everyone knows that we have a good bowling unit. So, we just want to go with
our strength and would like to play to our potential."
Nigar,
24, signed off by saying that the knowledge gained from Bangladesh men's side,
who played Tests in New Zealand earlier this year, will come handy during the
tournament.
"We
do have some good relations with some of the players so they shared a lot of
experience about the condition and how we're going to the play here. I think it
is going to help us in the practice matches and the main matches as well."
Source:
Cricketnmore
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They
served, too. New database shows Black women’s service in World War II.
By
Linda Blackford
FEBRUARY
27, 2022
At
the same time Yvonne Giles has been unearthing military history at African
Cemetery No. 2, one of her friends and colleagues decided to ask a slightly
different question: What about Black women who served? Reinette Jones,
co-founder of the Notable Kentucky African Americans Database at the University
of Kentucky, was introduced to the idea by Barbara Kent, director of military
and veterans affairs at Eastern Kentucky University. Kent had arranged a
showing of the documentary “the SixTripleEight” at the Lyric Theater. The documentary
is about the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, a unit of 800 Black
women who were sent to Europe during WWII where they sorted 17 million pieces
of mail for troops. They worked in England and in France. So Jones got curious
about whether any of those women were from Kentucky, and like every obsessive
researcher, she started to research. “I went down a rabbit hole,” she said. “I
needed to know more.” initially finding 18 Black women from Kentucky who served
with the Women Army Corps in World War II. While many books have focused on
white women in the military, very little has been done on their Black
counterparts, Jones said. “It was very revealing because of the difficulty in
just getting the names.” $2 for 2 months Subscribe for unlimited access to our
website, app, eEdition and more CLAIM OFFER Jones started a list of people like
Norene Harris, whose father was a coal miner who moved from Alabama to Hazard.
Jones found a Cinncinnati Enquirer story about her 1942 swearing-in with the
WACs at Fountain Square, one of four Black women among 31 whites. Jones is
still researching their experiences, the racism they faced at home and abroad
before and after the war. “It seems the opportunities they thought would be
there for employment and job training and education were not there after all,”
she said. That’s from the story of Anna B. Collins Morrison of Richmond, who
went on to great civil rights fame: “She was one of the four WACs who took on
the U.S. Army in 1945 in the fight for better work assignments for African
American WACs at the Lovell General Hospital at Fort Devens, MA,” Jones writes.
“The four women were Johnnie Murphy from Rankin, PA; Alice Young from
Washington, D.C.; Mary Green from Conroe, TX; and Anna Collins Morrison from
Richmond, KY. The women led in the work strike that started March 9, 1945. The
four refused to go back to work and were court-martialed on March 19, 1945. The
next day the women were sentenced to one year of hard labor in prison with a
dishonorable discharge for each woman. News of the trial and the convictions
were carried in a few Kentucky newspapers including The Courier-Journal,
Owensboro Messenger, The Park City Daily News, The Lexington Herald, and the
Lexington Leader. “After the trial, the Black press, Black women’s
organizations, and Civil Rights organizations and leaders responded in force
with their support for the four WACs. Thurgood Marshall of the NAACP Legal
Defense Fund was chosen as the attorney to represent the four women in their
appeal. The women were confined to rooms in the Lovell Hospital during the
appeals process.The appeals worked in the women’s favor. On April 2, 1945,
their sentences were revoked and they were allowed to return to duty at the
Lovell Hospital. Captain Myrtle Anderson was placed in charge of the segregated
4th WAC Company of African American women. The African American WACs continued
to be assigned the most menial jobs and they did not receive the training that
was promised when they signed up.”
Source:
kentucky
https://www.kentucky.com/opinion/linda-blackford/article258505833.html
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/saudi-women-train-drivers/d/126468