Despite continual calls for greater female participation in the development of the country, some working women are appealing to the authorities to let them stop work early. According to a report in Al-Watan daily, women employed in the private sector are asking for a lowering of the age of retirement to below the current 55 years of age, saying commitments to their spouses and children, low pay, a lack of incentives, short vacations and long working hours are encouraging them to request early retirement. Some people say that the private sector offers women no encouragement to stay in work for the required 25 years before retirement, and suggest that lowering retirement age would open up employment opportunities for thousands of graduates every year. Many women are hoping that the authorities concerned, notably the Ministry of Labor, Shoura Council and the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI), review regulations on the age of retirement. Rawan Ali, a nutrition supervisor at Al-Mowasat Hospital in Jubail, says that private sector working hours are long and often in split shifts. “I arrive home with no energy left,” Rawan says. “Women are supposed to put up with it until they are 55, which is difficult,” she says. The GOSI stipulates the current minimum age of retirement on the condition that an employee has been registered with them for no less than 120 months. The GOSI, according to one official, takes into account “women's nature and family circumstances and grants her a kind of special insurance protection.” Farha Ahmad Ne'mah, a management representative at Ghadran Foodstuff Factory, believes the retirement system contributes to Saudi social security, but said she and her colleagues deserve a pension 15 years after registering with the GOSI and wanted to see the age stipulation abolished. “The physical capabilities of women are different from men, not to mention women's responsibilities as mothers to bring up their children,” Farha says. “Pregnancy, for example, consumes a lot of a woman's energy,” she maintained. Private school mathematics teacher Ibtisam Al-Qarni says that teachers are expected to produce double the effort, and rarely continue in the sector especially if they are responsible for a family. “The 25 years period means many teachers will not get pensions, because it is difficult to stay in this line of work that long,” Ibtisam says. Noura Balobaid of Ajyal Al-Mawahib Private Schools in Dhahran agrees. “The period should be reduced to 15 or 20 years at the most,” she says. Abdullah Bin Mohammad Al-Abduljabbar, media director at the GOSI, said women and men with 300 registered months are entitled to retire early, as are disabled people who require12 consecutive registered months, or 18 non-consecutive months. “In the case of bereaved families,” Al-Abduljabbar adds, “they get a pension as long as the deceased had a subscription of 3 consecutive or 6 non
