Hijab Ban: Muslim Girls Sandwiched Between Law And Religion?
20 March 2022
•
Hijab Ban: Muslim Girls Sandwiched Between Law And Religion?
•
Arab Women In Jerusalem Study Hebrew For A Stronger Future
•
Deadly Attacks On Women Rise Sharply In Iraqi Kurdistan
•
As School Resumes In Afghanistan, Will All Girls Be Allowed To Go?
•
Ukraine Crisis: Claims Mariupol Women And Children Forcibly Sent To Russia
•
Hijab Ban: Muslim Girls Sandwiched Between Law And Religion? AIMIM Leader
Responds
•
‘Jameel Jeddan’ Highlights The
Experiences Of Saudi Women
•
Al-Salem Johnson Empowers Saudi Women In HVAC-R
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/hijab-ban-muslim-law-religion/d/126611
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Hijab
Ban: Muslim Girls Sandwiched Between Law And Religion?
Representative Image
----
Mar
19, 2022
Even
as the Karnataka High Court has given its verdict on Hijab ban in state's
classrooms, the controversy is far from over. The Muslim girl petitioners from
Udupi have now approached Supreme Court challenging the verdict of the
Karnataka High Court on Hijab ban. On Thursday, Muslim-dominated areas of
Karnataka observed a shutdown to register their protest against the Hijab
verdict. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) headed by Hyderabad MP
Asaduddin Owaisi has come out openly against the Karnataka High Court verdict
and has decided to be party in the petition that has been filed before the
Supreme Court. Waris Pathan, who is a close aide of Owaisi, speaks to Hindustan
Times about the hijab ban and what his party plans to do in this regard. Watch
this full interview for more. #TheInterview #Hijab #KarnatakaHighcourt #BJP
#AIMIM #WarisPathan #Owaisi
Source:
Hindustan Times
-----
Arab
Women In Jerusalem Study Hebrew For A Stronger Future
Lissan’s ‘Women Speaking Hebrew’ program empowers
women in east Jerusalem and gives them tools for greater independence. Photo
courtesy of Lissan
-----
By
Naama Barak
MARCH
20, 2022
Almost
a decade ago, a group of women from the Arab Jerusalem neighborhood of Isawiya
looked for a program where they could study Hebrew. They didn’t find anything
appropriate and ended up inviting two students from the nearby Hebrew
University to teach them.
They
enjoyed their studies so much, that a year later they sought to bring aboard
all their female friends, relatives and neighbors.
That’s
how the “Women Speaking Hebrew” program began. Fast forward a few years, and
it’s now under the umbrella of the nonprofit organization Lissan (Arabic for
“language” or “tongue”) that promotes gender and social equality in Jerusalem.
“Hebrew
is an absolutely vital need in east Jerusalem,” explains Lissan CEO Talia
Vekshtein. “Jerusalem is a city whose institutes and public bodies operate in
Hebrew. To get any service, to speak with doctors at the hospital, to
understand the letters from City Hall and to confidently and independently go
around the place you have to know the language.”
Vekshtein
notes that 64 percent of the women in eastern Jerusalem don’t speak any Hebrew,
compared to only 12 percent of the men. “That keeps them dependent on their
partners to carry out basic actions,” she says.
Unlike
elsewhere in the country, Hebrew wasn’t traditionally included in the east
Jerusalem school curriculum. Recent years have seen a rise in Hebrew lessons
both in schools and by private tutors, but the level isn’t always great and
private lessons are expensive, especially for one of the poorest communities in
Israel.
To
empower these women and help them gain more independence, Lissan runs multiple
all-women’s language courses, makes information regarding issues such as
national medical and social security rights more accessible, and offers courses
geared at finding employment.
The
Women Speaking Hebrew program is now comprised of 40 volunteer teachers, eight
coordinators and 400 female students, ranging in level from beginners to
advanced.
Nasra
Dahdal from the neighborhood of Shuafat tells ISRAEL21c that she has wanted to
learn Hebrew for a while. As an Arabic teacher and former employee of the
University of Bethlehem, she didn’t come across many Hebrew-speaking Israelis.
“To
know a person, you should learn their language. Without talking to each other
you can’t learn about each other, so I thought that it would be good to join
and learn,” she says.
A
few months into the program, she’s enjoying the teaching and the level, and as
a retiree has plenty of time to focus on her studies.
“Within
three months, I read and write very well, although I still have problems with
[differentiating between the Hebrew letters] kuf and kaf. But I’m practicing.
I’m a teacher myself, and I know how to study,” she says.
“This
is a very, very good course for me. I’m enjoying it and having fun with the
teachers, playing with learning, learning some songs – children’s songs, but
[it makes] you feel young,” she laughs. “I say that no matter how old you are,
you need to keep on with life and have to carry on. If not for you then for
your children. If you educate your children, you open a window for them.
Without the language you can’t get around. It’s very difficult.”
“You
receive a document from the bank, from the post office, from different places
and you have to find someone to translate. I do Google Translate of course, but
it’s not really accurate for official documents like taxes, bank statements,
HMO statements,” she notes. “Everything is in Hebrew. Even when they say on the
phone ‘Press 1 for Arabic,’ you find the recorder telling you many things in
Hebrew.”
Lissan
is supported by philanthropic funds and private donors. Hebrew University
provides the program with classrooms and grants credit points to students who
volunteer as teachers.
One
such student is Avital Ende, who’s studying for her master’s in art history.
Last year she volunteered as a teacher, and this year she’s a pedagogical
coordinator.
“It’s
not as if they had complete grasp of the language, found a job or became
completely integrated. And yet, I do think that even on the most basic level –
of going to the mall and being able to ask where Zara is, or getting on the bus
and being capable of asking where to get off, or going to National Insurance
offices or to the local HMO, and for the language around you to be less
alienating – I find that to be significant,” she says.
“I’m
originally from Jerusalem myself, and I think there’s great value in bringing
together [people from] different parts of the city. For me, it’s also been an
opportunity to meet this large part from which there’s great detachment,” she
adds.
Originally
from the Arab town of Iksal in northern Israel, she’s now studying chemistry at
the Hebrew University and working as a matriculation and psychometric teacher alongside
her position at Lissan.
She
stresses that learning Hebrew is empowering for women, and that their studies
can have far-reaching impact on their surroundings.
“We
see the importance of female empowerment and how women are a very important
part of Arab society because they form the basis of the home. Most of the work
inside the home is done by women, since they raise and educate the children. We
want to promote women and empower them and also to give them the chance to go
out to work,” she explains.
The
most important thing she wants the Lissan students to gain, she says, is the
confidence to know “there’s nothing that can get in the way of achieving their
goals. They’re not worth less than anyone else in Jerusalem. Whether they’re
just studying or going out to work, this empowerment is the most important
thing for them and their families.”
“Our
goal is for every woman in east Jerusalem to have the liberty and independence
to be in charge of her life, to exercise her rights and to have access to the
rights and resources that she deserves,” she says.
She
looks forward to running Hebrew classes at community centers in east Jerusalem,
also for men, in conjunction with City Hall; continuing Hebrew teacher training
classes; and resuming Arabic-language courses geared at medical teams that were
put on halt during Covid. There’s also a pilot project in the works to teach
Hebrew to Bedouin women in the Negev desert.
“We
aspire to expand into more projects and to reach more women and audiences that
require our services,” Vekshtein concludes.
Source:
israel21c
https://www.israel21c.org/arab-women-in-jerusalem-study-hebrew-for-a-stronger-future/
-----
Deadly
attacks on women rise sharply in Iraqi Kurdistan
AFP
March
20, 2022
SULAIMANIYAH:
A woman burned alive by her husband, others shot dead by a father or a teenage
brother — bloody violence against women has spiked in northern Iraq’s Kurdish
region.
The
autonomous area, keen on projecting an image of a relative haven of stability
and tolerance in war-battered Iraq, has seen a sharp rise in femicide, killings
motivated by gender.
“In
the past two months, there has been an increase in femicide compared to the
previous year,” said Hiwa Karim Jwamir of the Kurdish General Directorate for
Combating Violence Against Women.
In
the first two months of 2022, 11 women were killed in autonomous Iraqi
Kurdistan, most of them shot, said the official based in Sulaimaniyah.
On
a Friday before dawn, a 15-year-old teenager was fatally wounded by six bullets
fired by her father in the village of Soran. The man told police his daughter
“went out with two boys late at night,” according to a domestic violence unit
which also records so-called “honor killings.”
Across
Iraq, gender-based violence rose 125 percent to over 22,000 cases between 2020
and 2021, says the UN children’s agency UNICEF, which has also pointed to “a
worrisome increase in depression and suicide among women and girls.”
For
years, activists have denounced violence against women and forced marriages in
Iraq, which remains a conservative and patriarchal society.
“Cases
of violence against women are on the rise,” said long-time Kurdistan activist
Bahar Munzir, director of local group the People’s Development Organization.
A
few days before International Women’s Day on March 8, the body of a 20-year-old
woman was found on the side of the road in Irbil, the capital of Kurdistan.
While
he was still on the run, he spoke by phone to a Kurdish television channel and
tried to justify the killing by charging his sister had failed to obey the
family.
“Before
dying, Shinyar told us the facts,” said the bereaved father. “We recorded it,
and we submitted the video to the investigators.”
Kurdistan’s
prime minister Masrour Barzani denounced the “horrific case,” saying he was
“deeply troubled” by the spate of violent attacks against women.
In
early February, Dohuk police said they had found the corpse of Doski Azad, a
23-year-old transgender woman who had been ostracized by family members.
“When
a woman is killed, the procedures of the security services are not the same as
when it’s a man, the trial is not the same,” said Munzir, the activist.
“Some
cases don’t even make it to court. They are subject to tribal resolution
between the man’s family and that of his wife, the victim.”
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2046082/middle-east
-----
As
school resumes in Afghanistan, will all girls be allowed to go?
FATMA
TANIS
March
20, 2022
On
the first day back to school in September 2021, one month after the Taliban
took over Afghanistan, Maryam, a 15-year-old girl from Mazar-i Sharif,
remembers the fear and uncertainty she felt on her way to school.
NPR
is not using her last name so she can speak freely. She and other students were
greeted by Taliban soldiers at the entrance. Later that day, they also came in
to the classrooms
"The
Taliban entered our class and most of the girls ran to the back of the
classroom and turned around. They didn't want to see their faces. They don't
want to see the Taliban," Maryam said.
The
Taliban came in to classrooms every day to check that all girls were wearing
headscarves and gloves to cover their hands. Maryam's assigned seat was in the
very front in the first row, and she recalls the anger and defiance she felt
each time they barged in. But she refused to leave her seat like her
classmates.
Mazar-i
Sharif, where she lives, is in Balkh, the only province that has kept schools
open for older girls. Several other provinces have had some schools open for
girls at different times, but for the vast majority of the country, girls above
the 6th grade have not been allowed to go to school.
The
inconsistency is due to disagreements about girls' education among the Taliban
ranks, and without a cohesive policy on schools, the government in Kabul has
left decisions to provincial Taliban officials.
But
despite Taliban assurances that all girls will be allowed back in schools,
students and teachers are still unclear about what will happen. Afghanistan's
Taliban-run Education Ministry did not respond to NPR's repeated requests for
comment.
In
Kabul, 17-year old Fatima Sadat, who dreams of being a successful psychologist,
hasn't been to school in seven painful months, she said. She's been worried
about her future, and is constantly asking her teachers for updates on whether
she'll be allowed to go.
"We're
still not going to know until the morning of the 23rd, whether the schools are
actually open or not," said Heather Barr, the Associate Women's Rights
Director at Human Rights Watch, who is based in Pakistan and focuses on Afghan
women and girls.
"There's
the potential for some kind of photo ops at the same time that schools in rural
areas may not get the same treatment," Barr said.
When
it comes to girls' access to education in Afghanistan, the issue is broader
than just schools being open. Class attendance for girls in provinces where
schools were open dropped significantly.
Maryam
from Mazar-i Sharif noted that of the 40 girls in her class, only 15 showed up
at school for the rest of the term after the Taliban takeover. Barr says it's
because the daily tensions with the Taliban have had a psychological effect on
girls and their families.
"Everybody
knows that the Taliban don't really want you to go and that's going to make
people feel unsafe and it's going to undermine the efforts of girls who are
trying to advocate for themselves and convince their families that they should
be allowed to go," she said.
Another
aspect is employment. Under the Taliban there are few sectors where women are
allowed to work, mainly as teachers and health care providers to other women.
And opportunities are few. Barr said that lowers the appeal for families to
educate their daughters.
"Why
would you study? Why would you and your family make enormous sacrifices for you
to be able to complete high school, go on to university? You're not going to
have the career that you dreamed of and you're not going to be able to provide
the support to your family," she said.
After
seven months of Taliban rule, most observers say not much has changed when it
comes to their policies on women and girls. Barr notes the Taliban seem to be
much more responsive to international pressure. But global attention on
Afghanistan has waned.
"We
will all be so happy if, God willing, schools reopen again for girls so that we
can continue our education for the future of our country, to become successful
servants and be able to stand our country back on its feet," she said.
Source:
NPR
https://www.npr.org/2022/03/20/1087734423/afghanistan-girls-school-taliban
-----
Ukraine
crisis: claims Mariupol women and children forcibly sent to Russia
Justin
McCurry
20
Mar 2022
Authorities
in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol have said Russian troops have forcibly
deported several thousand residents to Russia, as reports emerged that Russian
forces bombed an art school in the city where 400 people were taking shelter.
“Over
the past week, several thousand Mariupol residents were deported on to the
Russian territory,” the city council said in a statement on its Telegram
channel late on Saturday.
“The
occupiers illegally took people from the Livoberezhniy district and from the
shelter in the sports club building, where more than a thousand people (mostly
women and children) were hiding from the constant bombing.”
The
claims have not been independently verified, but the council’s statement is one
of several reports about Mariupol residents being taken to Russia, where
authorities have referred to “refugees” arriving from the strategic port.
In
a statement posted Sunday on the Telegram channels of Mariupol council and the
Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada, the council said women, children and elderly people
were inside and “are still under the rubble” of the destroyed G12 art school in
Mariupol’s Left Bank district. The number of casualties was unclear. The
Guardian has not independently verified the claim of the bombing.
The
message accused the Russians of committing war crimes, echoing Ukrainian
president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s earlier video address, in which he said of the
attacks on Mariupol: “To do this to a peaceful city ... is a terror that will
be remembered for centuries to come.”
Intense
street fighting in the city has hampered attempts to free hundreds of survivors
trapped for days inside a bombed theatre as Ukrainian forces held out against a
larger Russian force inside the strategically important southern port city.
Jakob
Kern, the World Food Programme’s emergency coordinator, described Russia’s
tactic of preventing emergency food supplies to Mariupol as “unacceptable in
the 21st century”. Ukrainian MP Dmytro Gurin described conditions in the city
as “medieval”.
Meanwhile,
China has responded angrily to mounting western pressure to condemn the
invasion, saying it stands on the right side of history over the crisis and is
in line with the stances of most countries.
“China
will never accept any external coercion or pressure, and opposes any unfounded
accusations and suspicious against China,” the foreign minister, Wang Yi, said
on Saturday evening.
China
has refused to condemn Russia’s action in Ukraine or call it an invasion,
although it has expressed concern about the crisis. Beijing has also opposed
economic sanctions on Russia over Ukraine, describing them as unilateral and
not authorised by the UN security council.
Wang’s
comments came after the US president, Joe Biden, warned his Chinese
counterpart, Xi Jinping, on Friday of “consequences” if Beijing gave material
support to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We
have always stood for maintaining peace and opposing war,” Wang said,
reiterating that China will make independent judgments. “China’s position is
objective and fair, and is in line with the wishes of most countries. Time will
prove that China’s claims are on the right side of history.”
An
official in Mariupol accused Russian forces of taking thousands of Ukrainians
across the border into Russia, adding he feared they could be used as forced
labour, the New York Times reported.
Pyotr
Andryushchenko, an assistant to the city’s mayor, said Russian forces had taken
“between 4,000 and 4,500 Mariupol residents forcibly across the border to
Taganrog” – a city in south-western Russia – the newspaper said. The residents
had been taken without their passports, Andryushchenko said.
A
Ukrainian police officer in Mariupol warned that it had been “wiped off the
face of the earth”, and pleaded with the US and France to supply the country
with a modern air defence system.
In
a video appeal from a street strewn with rubble, Michail Vershnin publicly
reminded Biden and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, that they had
promised assistance “but what we have received is not quite it”, and urged them
to save the civilian population.
“Children,
elderly people are dying. The city is destroyed and it has been wiped off the
face of the earth,” Vershnin said, speaking in Russian in the video filmed on
Friday that has been authenticated by the Associated Press.
He
then appealed directly to the US and French leaders. “You have promised that
there will be help, give us that help. Biden, Macron, you are great leaders. Be
them to the end.”
Pressure
on China to abandon its neutral stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
increased after the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, urged leaders in
Beijing to get off the fence and join global condemnation of the Russian
leader, Vladimir Putin.
“As
time goes on and as the number of Russian atrocities mounts up, I think it
becomes steadily more difficult and politically embarrassing for people either
actively or passively to condone Putin’s invasion,” Johnson said.
“There
are considerable dilemmas now for people who thought they could sit this one
out, who thought they could sit on the fence. And, yes, I think that in Beijing
you are starting to see some second thoughts.”
China,
however, has shown no sign of altering its stance. On Saturday its vice foreign
minister, Le Yucheng, described western sanctions against Russia as
increasingly “outrageous”.
Le
also acknowledged Moscow’s position on Nato, saying the alliance should not
further expand eastwards and force a nuclear power like Russia “into a corner”.
“The
sanctions against Russia are getting more and more outrageous,” Le said at
security forum in Beijing, adding that Russian citizens were being deprived of
overseas assets “for no reason”.
“History
has proven time and again that sanctions cannot solve problems. Sanctions will
only harm ordinary people, impact the economic and financial system ... and
worsen the global economy.”
The
fall of Mariupol, a key connection to the Black Sea, would mark a major advance
for the Russians, who are largely bogged down outside major cities more than
three weeks into the biggest land invasion in Europe since the second world
war.
Russian
media have offered a very different explanation for the reported removal of
Mariupol residents. The Tass news agency reported on Saturday that 13 buses
were moving to Russia, carrying more than 350 people, about 50 of whom were to
be sent by rail to the Yaroslavl region and the rest to temporary transition
centres in Taganrog, a port city in Russia’s Rostov region.
RIA
Novosti agency, citing emergency services, reported last week that nearly
300,000 people, including some 60,000 children, had arrived in Russia from the
Luhansk and Donbas regions, including from Mariupol, in recent weeks.
Russia’s
defence ministry said this month that more than 2.6 million people in Ukraine
have asked to be evacuated – a claim that has not been independently verified.
Source:
The Guardian
-----
Hijab
ban: Muslim girls sandwiched between law and religion? AIMIM's Waris Pathan responds
19-03-2022
Even
as the Karnataka High Court has given its verdict on Hijab ban in state's
classrooms, the controversy is far from over. The Muslim girl petitioners from
Udupi have now approached Supreme Court challenging the verdict of the
Karnataka High Court on Hijab ban. On Thursday, Muslim-dominated areas of
Karnataka observed a shutdown to register their protest against the Hijab
verdict. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) headed by Hyderabad MP
Asaduddin Owaisi has come out openly against the Karnataka High Court verdict
and has decided to be party in the petition that has been filed before the
Supreme Court. Waris Pathan, who is a close aide of Owaisi, speaks to Hindustan
Times about the hijab ban and what his party plans to do in this regard. Watch
this full interview for more. #TheInterview #Hijab #KarnatakaHighcourt #BJP
#AIMIM #WarisPathan #Owaisi
Source:
msn
-----
‘Jameel
Jeddan’ highlights the experiences of Saudi women
NADA
AL-TURKI
March
19, 2022
RIYADH:
On the evening of Feb. 7, young women all over the country sat in front of
their screens watching a peculiar story unfold that sheds light on coming of
age, love, coping with trauma, dealing with loss, quirky anime references,
outdated taboos, and the acceptance of your own reality.
In
a male-dominated industry, Sarah Taibah’s “Jameel Jeddan” is the first Saudi
show ever starring, written, and created by a Saudi woman.
The
plot is anything but typical. Strong-headed Jameel wakes up from a five-year
coma and is forced to finish her last year in high school and rejoin a society
she no longer associates with. As a coping mechanism, she begins to experience
glitches in the form of an animated alternative reality.
While
encapsulating the complexity of the Saudi female experience in a mere six
episodes seems far from realistic, Taibah comes pretty close. In many ways,
“Jameel Jeddan” has proved to be every woman’s story.
“I
wanted to write about a character that comes back to society after a major
thing happens,” Taibah told Arab News, adding that the idea for the show was
inspired by her time in quarantine.
The
show aims to highlight the experience of women living in Saudi Arabia, its
success nuanced by the collective effort to bring those experiences to life.
“I’m beyond proud that more than 80 percent of the cast are female and almost
50 percent of the crew is female, which is something so rare,” said Taibah.
“I’m
very blessed to have a forward-thinking director who made sure that all his AD
department will be women because he doesn’t want to direct women wrongfully or
depict them inauthentically,” she added.
Anas
BaTahaf, the director and editor of the show, and Taibah have collaborated on
multiple projects in the past, including the anthology show “No. 2” and
BaTahaf’s feature film “Faye’s Pallet.”
“Jameel
Jeddan” is, by all means, one of the most unconventional depictions of a woman
on Saudi television. While the region’s women are often seen as submissive and
controlled in the eyes of Western media, the stubborn, deep, and free-spirited
main character illustrates the dominant individuality of Saudi women and their
diversities.
“It’s
very fresh. I am, and always will be, one of the supporters of giving women
space and a voice. I think this industry has been dominated by males for so
long and it’s fresh to actually have female voices,” BaTahaf told Arab News.
The
director said he decided to bring on a female consulting director, Jawaher
Al-Amri, to represent Saudi women’s experiences authentically.
“No
matter how much I tried to understand things from my society, and conversations
I come from, eventually it’s not the same when you’re actually making a
decision that will actually affect how you’ll direct a certain character ... I
care about representation, I care about diversity,” he said.
The
show also pioneers in the industry as the first Saudi TV series set in an
all-girl high school. “I loved the details at the school. They were so
realistic, especially for people who studied in Saudi Arabia. Personally, I
related so much to Salwa, Jameel’s friend, and that made me love and relate to
the show so much more,” said viewer Doa Al-Saadi, whose fan art was featured on
the show’s Instagram page.
While
the series’ target audience is teens and young adults, it has generally been
well-received regardless of generational gaps, reaching the list of “Top 10
Most Viewed in Saudi Arabia” on the host platform Shahid.
“I
was so surprised by the number of men that really enjoyed the show. They always
say that ‘Women watch action movies, but men don’t watch chick flicks,’ but if
it’s well-produced they’re gonna like it. If it’s good, it’s good,” said
Taibah.
“It
looks at the frustration that Jameel has with the society, without simply
blaming every other member of the society. Instead, it looks at the complexity
of the situation and how this ongoing conflict between emotions, beliefs, and
desires is within reach of the characters surrounding the protagonist,” he told
Arab News.
“I
think this is what made the show successful. Most cinematic works of the same
nature as ‘Jameel Jeddan’ discuss these issues very blatantly and in a tacky
manner. As a viewer, you lose the fun in it,” said Al-Saadi.
In
a way, the show acts as a live documentation of Jeddah. One of the locations on
the show, Al-Baik in Al-Rawdah district, has closed down since the show’s
production.
The
show takes you on a tour of the city, creating an authentic experience of what
living in Jeddah is like. Taibah and BaTahaf chose to focus less on tourist
attractions such as Albalad, and more on the ones common among locals, like the
old corniche.
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2045891/saudi-arabia
-----
Al-Salem
Johnson empowers Saudi women in HVAC-R
ARAB
NEWS
March
20, 2022
This
year’s International Women’s Day, observed on March 8, was themed “Break the
Bias,” envisioning a world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. Saudi
Arabia is a shining example of a country that has put this theme into practice.
The
Kingdom has made great strides in empowering women and increasing their
economic participation through a series of legislative reforms and efforts in
recent years. Indeed, Saudi women have become effective partners in the nation’s
development in all fields including economic, social, scientific, cultural and
others.
As
empowering women is one of the main pillars of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, this
has contributed to boosting women’s participation in all sectors of the labor
market and at all functional levels, by providing them opportunities and
expanding their work options.
The
Kingdom’s heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration sector is
one such sector that has welcomed qualified Saudi women over the past few years.
These women have proven their mettle and gone on to achieve important
leadership positions, thereby opening the door wide for the significant
presence of women in this field for years to come.
CEO
of Al-Salem Johnson Controls in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon and Yemen, Dr.
Mohanad Al-Shaikh said the company has been a pioneer in hiring and promoting
women in the HVAC-R sector, expanding the scope of women’s employment in recent
years by 107 percent to include managerial positions as well. At present, the
number of female employees at Al-Salem Johnson Controls stands at 118 and
leadership positions for women have seen a rise of 10 percent.
Al-Shaikh
said that the company started its endeavor of empowering women more than 15
years ago by being keen on attracting women in several departments within the
company, including IT, financial affairs, supply chain, data analysis and
others. In recent years, a number of Saudi female engineers have joined the
company’s Young Leaders Program targeting areas that were mostly dominated by
their male counterparts in the past.
With
the opening of the YORK Manufacturing Complex in King Abdullah Economic City in
2021, the company is training Saudi women in various production lines, enabling
them to be directly involved in the manufacturing and assembling of Saudi-made
YORK units, and thus play a role in achieving the two major goals of Vision
2030, which include developing the local manufacturing sector and empowering
women.
“The
Saudi women working in the HVAC-R sector feel happy and proud because they are
among the first to be working in this field in the Kingdom,” the CEO added.
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2045961/corporate-news
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/hijab-ban-muslim-law-religion/d/126611