Saudi Women Seize Startup Culture with Both Hands; No Less Than 17.7 Percent Either Started Or Ran A Business In 2020
New
Age Islam News Bureau
27
November 2021
• Ridwa: Egyptian Campaign Seeks Fair Inheritance Rights
for Women
• Village Woman Shares Success Story At Int’l Symposium
In Kazakhstan
• Egypt: Arab Women Organization Thanks Sisi over
Supporting Women Issues
• Lt Gen Nigar Johar Becomes First Female Colonel
Commandant Of Army Medical Corps In Pakistan
• Turkish Police Tear-Gas Women Protesting Over Violence
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/saudi-women-startup-culture/d/125854
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Saudi
Women Seize Startup Culture with Both Hands; No Less Than 17.7 Percent Either
Started Or Ran A Business In 2020
A
Saudi woman works as an operator at the National Center for Security Operations
for Haj, ahead of the annual haj pilgrimage, in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi
Arabia July 15, 2021. REUTERS/Ahmed Yousri
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November
26, 2021
Saudi
Arabia is making the transition to a more diversified economy, after being
reliant upon oil for much of the past century — a trend sparked by Vision 2030
as well as commitments made at the COP26 Summit last month.
While
corporate giants such as Aramco and Sabic continue to dominate the economy, a
culture of enterprise is taking hold as more and more young people start their
own companies.
And
contrary to international perceptions, it is Saudi women who are playing a
major part in this new era.
No
less than 17.7 percent of Saudi women either started or ran a business in 2020,
according to a report last month from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, a
London-based data group that tracks startups across the world. This is
considerably higher than the global average of 11 percent of females who go
into business.
The
report also noted that over 30 percent of Saudi women intended to launch a
business in the next three years; and that, compared to men, women were “more
likely to act on these intentions.”
GEM
says these moves are backed by “recent government policies and interventions to
support female entrepreneurs in the Kingdom.”
Nouf
Al-Qahtani, the owner of the NSHQ chain of perfumeries, is a case in point.
Al-Qahtani first went into business in 2005, repackaging and reselling her
perfume collection.
Her
startup took her from the souqs of Kuwait to the essential oil dealers of
France and Italy, and a SR300,000 ($80,000) loan from the Prince Sultan Fund
allowed her to launch her first shop in Alkhobar in 2015.
Today,
she runs three perfume boutiques in Alkhobar and Riyadh with a staff of 14,
while a fourth outlet is on the way.
She
adds: “Many businessmen in Saudi Arabia did not even want to talk to a single
woman when I started my company. They would say, ‘Come back with your father or
your brother and we will talk to him.’
“But
now Saudi women are more powerful. They encourage each other, and even the
mentality of Saudi men has changed. If they start any business, they want a
female partner. You know why? Because she will work harder, she will do her
best to prove herself and she will be more organized.”
Al-Qahtani
credits this cultural shift to the reforms introduced by Crown Prince Mohammed
bin Salman.
She
says: “I love the way he makes Saudi citizens, and especially women, believe in
themselves and their national identity. Saudi consumers used to want only
imported products — now they are really interested in local producers like
myself.”
Abeer
Al-Hashim, the owner of the Nine Soft Serve chain of ice-cream outlets, is
another woman who started more or less from scratch and went on to greater
things.
Beginning
with a single Alkhobar-based mobile unit in the Kingdom’s Eastern Province in
2018, Al-Hashim now operates six retail outlets — four in Riyadh and two in
Alkhobar.
Al-Hashim
agrees that circumstances have rapidly improved for female entrepreneurs in
Saudi Arabia.
She
says: “Even five years ago it was very tough for women to have an independent
life and to run an independent company.”
“The
entire commercial process is easier now, especially in terms of tech applications
– it’s so simple to communicate with the government online, and as a woman you
no longer need a man to speak on your behalf.”
Al-Hashim
was recently approached by Monsha’at — the General Authority of Small for
Medium Enterprises — which told her that her product was ideal for franchising.
It went on to provide Al-Hashim with guidance and resources to expand her
operation locally and internationally, including putting her in touch with a
franchising consultancy.
This
is an example of the proactive new approach of the Saudi government — a sea
change from the cumbersome red tape and excessive delays that used to await
anybody doing business in the Kingdom.
“We
get such a lot of official support,” says Al-Qahtani, “and that’s something
that I’m very proud of.”
Rana
Mirza, who faced successive hurdles when establishing her Jeddah-based Language
& Listening Stimulation Center for children with learning disabilities in
2012, wishes she had enjoyed the benefits that female startup founders now take
for granted in Saudi Arabia.
Mirza
said: “I had to pay a man to follow up on all the paperwork in the various
government offices, but now I can do it all myself. And the government
e-services save a huge amount of time and energy, because you don’t have to
visit a physical office anymore. It’s all online.”
This
is an important factor for Mirza, whose 40-employee center requires numerous
official licenses to provide a range of linguistic and psychological therapies.
These
businesswomen have their own clear message for other women considering a new
startup.
Al-Hashim
said: “You cannot start something without a sense of passion. If you don't have
passion for what you’re doing, you’re wasting your time.”
Mirza’s
advice is more hands-on: “Try to have knowledge of management, quality control,
finance and customer service — before you start your business. I learned that
the hard way. It's not just about your passion — it’s about the know-how.”
All
three of these entrepreneurs are testament to the fact that significant opportunities
exist for anybody, male or female, who takes advantage of the emerging culture
of enterprise in Saudi Arabia.
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1975861/business-economy
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Ridwa:
Egyptian Campaign Seeks Fair Inheritance Rights for Women
Enas
Kamal
18
November, 2021
"My
father died 40 years ago, leaving behind several sons and three daughters. At
first, everything was handed to my eldest brother because that was what my
mother wanted, all the papers and property were passed to him. After our mother
died, we asked for our inheritance but there were always delays. Now, our
brother has died, and the situation is the same. We don't know what we own, and
where. All assets have been transferred to our brothers. We don't know how to
get hold of our inheritance".
This
was one from 106 testimonies recorded during a recent campaign called Ridwa
that was launched by two initiatives: Superwoman and Barah Aamen which have
been publishing testimonies about women's lost inheritance rights due to
Egyptian societal norms. The two feminist initiatives have been active since
2016 and seek to provide safe spaces for women, work towards equality and
combat gender-based violence in Egypt.
#Where's_Women's_Inheritance?
On
14 October 2021, the campaign was launched on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
and a series of women's testimonies were published with the hashtag
#Mirath_as-Sittat_Fain? (#Where's_Women's_Inheritance?).
The
date coincided with the International Day of Rural Women, and the campaign is
still ongoing, as it aims to find legal and social mechanisms to provide
justice for women regarding their inheritance rights.
"There
was a reason we chose this date," says Shaimaa Tantawi, one of the Barah
Aamen's founders, in a conversation with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, The New Arab's
Arabic-language sister publication.
"Many
studies show that the percentage of women who own land is minuscule compared to
men – according to the agricultural census in 2000, only 7.5 percent of women
own any land, and the total area owned by women collectively was 432,000 acres,
which is 5.1 percent of the total agricultural land in the country. The area
owned by men is around 8.4 million acres."
Tantawi
references research published last year by Qana University revealing that 95.5
percent of women in Sohag and Qana provinces alone are deprived of their
inheritance completely and mentioned another study: The Inheritance of Women in
Upper Egypt: Between Reality and Hope, which indicated that women in Upper
Egyptian society suffer from unjust customs amounting to economic violence
against them, a big part of which is the denial of their inheritance rights.
Women
deprived of the wealth they create
This
is despite the fact that many women work and are actually the family
breadwinners. Therefore, Ridwa is demanding changes to ensure just treatment
for women who are being deprived of an inheritance which they themselves
contribute a huge part of.
"The
father owns possessions, land and property, which he leaves to his sons,
ignoring his daughters. When his daughters find out, the parents deny it… after
some time they will propose to give their daughters a small fraction of what
they’re rightfully owed. Most of them refuse, but some agree as it's better
than nothing," reads another testimony from the Ridwa campaign.
Tantawi
says: "We focused on women's inheritance rights because men always prefer
offering a ridwa (a small amount of money) to assuage women in lieu of their
real rights so they won't end up owning land and property." The term is
more familiar in rural areas and Upper Egypt than in urban areas, and in a
dictionary, it means an acceptance of fate.
Tantawi
says all the testimonies display clear oppression against women but one of the
most harrowing stories was about the mother of a girl who was denied her
inheritance. Her mother became ill and suffered a stroke.
However,
the family members who had seized her rightful share of the inheritance never
considered returning it to her so she could afford medical treatment, and she
died. Her daughter insisted that if she had been given her share she could have
had surgery and maybe survived. She holds the members of her family who stole
her inheritance responsible for her mother's death.
Women
denied their inheritance in religion and law
Today,
most Egyptian citizens are Muslims. Islam makes it clear in a verse from Surah
An-Nisa (Chapter on Women) in the Quran that: "Those who unjustly seize
the property of orphans will be consumed by fire, and they will burn to a
blaze".
However,
we see that most women are denied what is rightfully theirs. Likewise, the
Fatwa Committee of the Islamic Research Academy has stated in the past that
depriving women of their inheritance was a custom in Jahiliyyah times (the 'age
of ignorance') and Islam fought against this.
In
Islam, women have the right to half the inheritance their brothers receive.
This is an idea which some feminist groups are quietly trying to challenge,
promoting equality in inheritance rights between brothers and sisters.
In
late 2017, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi approved a law that would, for the
first time, see those who deprived someone of their inheritance punished. This
was nearly 75 years after the Inheritance Law (Law 77 of 1943) was passed, and
the new punishment was a jail sentence of six months and a fine of 20-100,000
Egyptian pounds (EGP).
Tantawi
says Ridwa is demanding these laws be activated and applied, and that the state
deal with the issue seriously. It is not logical, she insists, that women are
working and contributing financially to build a life with their husbands, but
have no right to share in the wealth created.
Similarly,
women are told they will inherit less because men have more financial
responsibilities. However, while this may have been the case in the past it is
not true today, which makes it an obsolete idea. According to one study, four
million Egyptian families are being financially supported by women.
Economic
violence and intimidation
For
many women, economic violence (the deprivation of economic rights) is backed up
by intimidation and even sexual and physical violence. Aya Moneer, the founder
of the Superwoman initiative as well as one of Ridwa's founders, says that
threats against women over inheritance rights often come from male heirs who
see women as marginal and as not having rights.
If
they do agree to give her something, they will decide the amount and the terms.
Moreover, when women pursue their rights it can cost them family relationships,
or even lead to legal threats against them – women find themselves being seen
as the transgressors, instead of people with the right to what they are owed.
She
added that Egypt's patriarchal society does not allow women to own property. If
she has received her inheritance from her father, she will be forced to hand it
over to her husband. The justification is that he will be providing for the
family, and she and everything she has is his property and she has no right to
object.
Furthermore,
many girls' inheritances are controlled by the father's family who claims that
they are covering the girls' expenses so should control their shares. Then,
after hoarding the females' shares, they don't cover any of their expenses.
When
it comes to land, an old expression is used when justifying women's barring
from their inheritance: "The word soil should be said in the local
dialect". The saying infers that land should not leave the family.
Instead, women will get a paltry amount of compensation (the ridwa).
Social
media success
An
element of the Ridwa campaign was the tweeting of sarcastic memes about men
usurping the inheritance rights of women. Using memes as a medium to highlight
these issues were widely accepted and circulated on social media, says Moneer.
Unlike the mass criticism they received when using traditional media like
articles, the tweets were positively accepted and shared by social media
audiences.
The
organisers received many comments. One was from a man justifying why men
inherit agricultural land in Upper Egypt and women don't. He claimed that men
in Upper Egypt work for free on their father's land, increasing the land's
value, so they have more right to it.
In
response, Moneer said that rural women in Upper Egypt make up 49 percent of the
population and work many unpaid jobs, spending an average of 16 hours daily
working for free, whether on the land or looking after the household. This
means for two-thirds of their lives they are working unpaid.
This
campaign was launched at a time of social media uproar in Egypt due to the
murder of a girl who was burned to death by her brother over an inheritance
dispute. This was not the first incident of its kind this year: last January a
man murdered his sister with the help of his son over inheritance, and in March
a similar tragedy occurred.
Moneer
says that when they began the campaign, she believed the issue was mainly down
to the exploitation of the religious pretext. However, she realised the matter
was much more complex, involving emotional blackmail, control and violence.
Women's inheritance rights are stolen under the protective wings of the law, by
a society clinging on to the repression of women, linked to the societal view
of women as inferior.
There
was a clear desire that women's economic status remain subjugated so that they
remain unable to compete with men in the family, who not only usurp their
inheritances but claim ownership of their opinions and decisions as well.
According
to Moneer, the hashtag #Where's_Girls'_Inheritance? had around a quarter of a
million views on Twitter on day one of its launch, which Tantawi says surprised
them: "We were surprised to see the Twitter audience interact with a
serious matter like women's inheritance rights so enthusiastically."
Enas
Kamal is a freelance journalist in Egypt who has written about women's issues
for Raseef22.
Source:
The New Arab
https://english.alaraby.co.uk/features/egyptian-campaign-combats-womens-inheritance-denial
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Village
Woman Shares Success Story At Int’l Symposium In Kazakhstan
November
26 2021
A
woman who made her village famous countrywide with special tomato paste and
tarhana soup in the northwestern province of Bursa has been invited to
international symposiums in Kazakhstan to share her experiences with young
female entrepreneurs.
“A
woman can succeed in anything she wants,” Sermin Cakalıoğlu said in her
speeches to Kazakh women in five meetings in three cities.
The
primary school graduate mother of four changed her village Saitabat’s fate in
2002. A TV series at the time had made neighboring Cumalıkızık Village famous
nationwide. Getting inspired by this, Cakalıoğlu united all the women around to
make her village known for “cuisine.”
First,
she established Turkey’s first village women’s solidarity association, then
she, with other villagers, started making tomato pastes and tarhana soup. In a
short time, their products started to be sold nationwide.
She
also opened a restaurant in the village where local tourists flock. It did not
take much time for her to open two more branches in Bursa and the capital
Ankara.
Today
she is the head of the 113-membered association, where some 60 women are employed.
“It
is not only me who made it; it was us. It’s the team’s success,” Cakalıoğlu
said.
If
there is someone to applaud for, it is the “women of her village,” she added.
When
asked what she told Kazakh women, she noted, “I want to be a role model for all
the women who sit at home, saying ‘I have no education and job.’ I did it; we
did it.”
Stating
that “her village women’s voice has been heard from Europe,” Cakalıoğlu
highlighted that she gets symposium invitations from time to time from
different countries.
Source:
Hurriyet Daily News
https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/village-woman-shares-success-story-at-intl-symposium-169639
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Egypt:
Arab Women Organization Thanks Sisi Over Supporting Women Issues
26
NOVEMBER 2021
The
members of the Arab Women Organization's Supreme Council sent Thursday a cable
to President Abdel Fattah El Sisi thanking him on his support to and interest
in the issues of women.
During
the council 10th meeting, held in Cairo, they also extended thanks to the
president for his support to the Arab Women Organization, which Egypt led calls
for its establishment.
Libya's
Minister of State for Women Affairs Horeya Al-Tarman and the current president
for the Arab Women Organization said the members of the council praised Sisi's
efforts to ensure women's rights and to empower them in all fields, especially
by making the leading and decision-making posts accessible to women in many
domains, topped by the judiciary.
Source:
All Africa
https://allafrica.com/stories/202111260480.html
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Lt
Gen Nigar Johar Becomes First Female Colonel Commandant Of Army Medical Corps
In Pakistan
November
26, 2021
Lieutenant
General Nigar Johar has become the first ever female general to be appointed
the colonel commandant of Army Medical Corps (AMC), the military's media
affairs wing said in a statement on Friday.
According
to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement, Chief of Army Staff
(COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa pinned the badges of rank to formally install Lt
Gen Johar during a visit to the AMC centre, Abbotabad.
The
COAS also laid a wreath at the Yadgar-i-Shuhada and offered prayers.
Speaking
on the occasion, Gen Bajwa said that installation of the first-ever three-star
female general as the colonel commandant of AMC was "a matter of immense
pride for the Pakistan Army and the country".
He
also lauded the contributions of AMC in ensuring high standards of healthcare
during peace and war.
"The
AMC has always answered the call of duty during natural calamities, both inland
and abroad. Our doctors and paramedic staff have been frontline warriors
against Covid-19 and [have displayed] exemplary commitment and resolve for the
safety and well-being of the people of Pakistan," he remarked.
Keeping
pace with rapid advancements in medical science is imperative for doctors and
paramedics so that they are at par with modern militaries and the best global
practices in healthcare, he added.
Lt
Gen Johar is a graduate of the Army Medical College and holds an MCPS degree in
family medicine, MSc in advanced medical administration and a Masters in Public
Health. She has served as the National Instructor of Hospital Preparedness in
Emergency.
Her
military career is filled with firsts. Besides being the first female officer
to be promoted to three-star rank, she was also the first female officer to
command an army hospital, when she headed Combined Military Hospital, Jhelum,
as a brigadier. At the time of her promotion, she was commanding the Military
Hospital, Rawalpindi.
She
has been decorated with Tamgha-i- Imtiaz (Military) and is also the recipient
of Fatima Jinnah Gold Medal for meritorious services in Army Medical Corps from
the prime minister of Pakistan. Earlier this year, she also received the
Hilal-i-Imtiaz.
A
telefilm starring Mahira Khan was also made on Lt Gen Johar which aired earlier
this year.
Source:
Dawn
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Turkish
police tear-gas women protesting over violence
Nov
26, 2021
Turkish
police fired tear gas to break up a protest in Istanbul by women demanding the
country's return to a landmark international treaty, signed in the same city,
that is meant to protect women from violence.
The
women marched along Istanbul's main pedestrian street, Istiklal, on Thursday to
mark the November 25 International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against
Women. Holding colourful banners, they chanted slogans and vowed not give up on
the Council of Europe's Istanbul Convention.
Riot
police, who had set up barricades at the end of the street to prevent them from
proceeding further, fired tear gas when a group of protesters tried to breach
the barriers. At least one protester was injured, the Cumhuriyet newspaper
reported.
Similar
protests were held in Ankara and other cities.
Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pulled Turkey out of the Convention with a
surprise overnight decree in March, triggering condemnation from women's rights
groups and Western countries. A court appeal to prevent the move was rejected
and Turkey's withdrawal was formalized in July.
Some
officials from Erdogan's Islam-oriented party had called for a review of the
agreement, arguing it was inconsistent with Turkey's conservative values.
The
government announced its own “Action Plan for Combating Violence against
Women," including goals such as reviewing judicial processes, improving
protection services and gathering data on violence.
Human
rights groups say violence against women is on the rise in Turkey.
The
advocacy group, We Will Stop Femicide, says 353 women have been murdered so far
in Turkey in 2021, and 409 were killed last year. In October, 18 women were
killed by men and 19 others were found dead under suspicious circumstances,
according to the group.
Source:
Hindustan Times
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