Reactions to recent news of Saudi female graduates taking up teaching jobs in neighboring Gulf countries varied from denial and acceptance to, most commonly, amazement – because hardly anyone expected to ever see the day when Saudi women would leave their country to make a living elsewhere. Yet it was inevitable since life has become quite hard to bear and even if the women were to find jobs in Saudi Arabia, their salaries wouldn't measure up to the escalating cost of living. Such is the effect of the rising cost of living that even celibacy is increasing as youngsters put off marriage for want of a better salary or a job. Another reason why the women are leaving is the rising road-death toll of female teachers assigned to remote, rural areas of the Kingdom, which entail long travel daily. Here it's the hard choice between risking their lives, or simply going abroad to make a living. In recent months, several Saudi female teachers have left for jobs in the other GCC countries. Under new rules of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), citizens of member countries Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are free to work in any state within the regional grouping. A Qatari education official was quoted by local dailies as saying that his department had received job applications from Saudi female graduates through the website of the Higher Council for Education in Qatar. Dozens of other teachers came in person to apply, he told the papers. Women represent the greater portion of unemployed bachelor's degree holders in Saudi Arabia, constituting 73.4 percent of all unemployed graduates, while males represent 36.4 percent of that group, according to a 2007 report issued by the General Statistics and Information Department in the Saudi Ministry of Economy. Salem Sahab, an academic and writer following the issue, said he does not think there will be any negative effects on Saudi society any time soon from the flight of female Saudi teachers. "What is happening is not migration,” he said. “It is simply a search for better opportunities." Sahab holds the view that these women will certainly return to their country whenever there are better chances back home. He said use of the term “migration” is not accurate since GCC countries are very near to Saudi Arabia both geographically and socially. Sahab sees many positive aspects of this phenomenon. For one thing, it would reduce social tension arising from massive unemployment spreading among females – mostly the unmarried – who have no one to depend on financially especially now that prices have gone through the roof. Dr. Sahab added the movement of workers between GCC countries and Saudi Arabia can be viewed as an interaction helping stabilize GCC societies economically: these workers will be spending their money in the GCC area as opposed to foreign workers who repatriate their earning to their home countries. If such exchange of GCC workers had been implemented earlier, issues like female unemployment and dependence of foreign workers would not have reached their current level of complication, Dr. Sahab said. Dr. Afaf Al-Yaour, a King Abdul Aziz University specialist in Educational Management and Planning, attributed the efflux of Saudi teachers to neglect, ill planning and lack of foresight and coordination between ministries such as the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Social Services, Ministry of Planning and the Ministry of Labor. "If we look into the reasons behind this migration, we'll find that there are quite many," said Dr. Al-Yaour. She noted that doctors, businesswomen and journalists as well were leaving and that the list would grow longer. It's not about losing women from a certain profession any more and women of each profession have their own reasons to search for jobs elsewhere, the specialist said. Dr. Al-Yaour urged officials to get serious about it and she questioned the focus on studies to determine the expected number of graduates in the future, while no effort is being made to prepare strategic plans to help these graduates find appropriate jobs. There is an overload of graduates of certain specializations, which are no longer needed in the job market. There is also an over-saturation in public sector jobs that depend on these specialties. Thus we are facing a decrease in available jobs versus a steady rise in the numbers of applicants. The waiting list for jobs continues to grow and available jobs have nothing to offer but weak salaries. Although females constitute half of the Saudi population, they represent only 12.5 percent of its labor force, which means that 87.5 percent remains either engaged at home or waiting for a more conducive job environment, which can be reached by coordinating higher education plans and developmental requirements. Al-Yaour countered Dr. Sahab's contention that the efflux has more positive effects than negative. It doesn't, he said – immigration is immigration, regardless of where these women might end up. "There is no place like home," said Dr. Al-Yaour. "Even if you were to get paid more, it would never be the same." She said one of the negative outcomes of such migration would be more Saudi-foreign marriages, which might result in problems over child custody and divorce and instability in the families of those leaving the country. Dr. Zuhair Damanhouri, undersecretary for Development in KAAU, said the reasons behind this phenomenon must be studied, especially considering that the women began leaving the Kingdom as soon as the law permitted their departure. “These women surely didn't leave their countries for a change of scenery, instead they left because specific conditions led them to look for jobs abroad." Dr. Damanhouri said it is wrong to speculate on the damage on the social level before studies are conducted to determine all possible outcomes. The number of women leaving the country for jobs abroad can serve to prove that female unemployment rates are steadily increasing, Dr. Damanhouri said. Any educated or qualified Saudi woman will search for work anywhere and they are likely to find it, especially since they have proven their quality in many fields such as medicine, education and trading. Their scope in these fields must be expanded so that their needs are met as soon as possible, Dr. Damanhouri said. Dr. Huda Bataweel, professor at KAAU, said the migration of teachers would eventually result in a labor shortage in certain specializations, which would lead to recruitment of foreign teachers again. In addition, the social effects may be devastating, especially for married teachers. "It might also lead to further increases in the already high celibacy rates, since women will delay getting married in order to work, which will result in demographic disturbances as well as social and psychological effects." There are ways to get these women back home, Dr. Bataweel said. These are by creating appropriate jobs, increasing salaries and increasing maternity leave to six months. Public and private sector organizations have to play a role in this process. __
