The blessed month of Ramadan has ushered in through the threshold with its trademark blessings, compassion and mercy. The new “culture” of Ramadan - consisting of elaborate meals - however, causes much inconvenience to working women in the Kingdom. After spending a day at work, these women have to rush home to meet the Iftar preparation “deadline” so that their families have a decent meal to sit down at and consequently miss out on the true spirit of the holy month. “I have to reach work in the morning just like normal days, where I handle my official schedule at the same time as planning and timing my cooking duties,” remarked Nasreen Khaled, a Saudi woman working in a bank in Jeddah. “After reaching home, I get no time to rest and have to quickly set the dinner table for Iftar. “Ramadan is about devoting time to spiritual activities and worship, but unfortunately, during the evening I have to look after my twins who are below the age of three, so cannot offer Tarawih prayers or go out anywhere.” There's not much a working woman can do, moreover, if her husband insists on getting the more elaborate delicacies to eat during Iftar, and or some couples, this is a major source of contention during the holy month. “My husband loves food and prefers a variety of dishes, especially sweets like rice pudding, kunafa and amli, all of which are very time-consuming to make and I can only make during the weekends,” said Khaleda, a Syrian woman working for a private organization in Riyadh. She added that this puts her husband into a bad mood. One solution that an increasing number of women are turning to is finding a cook who will handle the Iftar and Suhoor responsibilities, and some women are even considering the contribution of their generous mothers to the Iftar. Farida Al-Fawaz is a Saudi operation supervisor at Khaleejia Investment in Riyadh, and she told Saudi Gazette that she reaches home well after 4 P.M., leaving her so tired that she has now invested in a domestic helper and gets occasional help from her mother in the form of favorite dishes sent over for Iftars. She also relies on her mother during the weekend, when the family gets together and the latter does all the cooking so that her daughter can rest. “Prior to the start of Ramadan, I prepare things and freeze them so that it's easy to cook them on weekends when my helper is not around,” she said. “I buy sambosa leaves and fill them with mince meat, potatoes; or buy spring roll sheets and fill them with chicken and freeze it all for convenience.” Finding a domestic helper for Ramadan, however, is both a highly expensive and frustrating ordeal as they are in high demand throughout the month. Noura is a doctor working in Al-Khobar and she told Saudi Gazette that: “I have a time consuming job, often entailing long hours, extending beyond my duty hours, and I reach home just before Iftar time I and unable to do the cooking myself. I have no choice but to hire a cook during the month, but she charges double than she should - 2,000 Saudi riyals.” A cheaper solution most women seem to prefer is to hire the services of delivery women who make popular Iftar food items at home and sell them at offices and homes, though they are sometimes discouraged by doing so. The delivery women sell frozen packs of sambosas, rolls, and waraq anaa - often at the charge of one Saudi riyal per piece. Umm Sara is one such professional cook and delivery woman and she told Saudi Gazette that she gets her supplies from the supermarket in the evening and prepares the items of food the next morning so that the packets can be delivered on time and well before Iftar. “I used to supply them at schools but since it's the holidays, I visit ladies' sections in banks and offices and supply customers with packets of frozen food,” she remarked. “Often they make purchases of approximately 50 Saudi riyals, and sometimes I'll be delivering somewhere while my driver will be delivering elsewhere. This is why I can earn in a righteous manner.”
