An unspecified number of women will be recruited to work as data collectors during the 4th National Census for Population and Housing, said Abdullah Al-Batil, who is in charge of Data Processing in the Central Department of Statistics and Information (CDSI) in the Ministry of Planning. Al-Batil said CDSI will recruit women as data collectors for places that have women-only sections such as in hospitals, schools and banks among other areas. “Women data collectors will not be deployed in the field. Rather they will visit those places that have women-only staff,” he said. A week-long training will be given to the short-listed women candidates, who include both Saudis and non-Saudis, he said. The women data collectors will be trained on how to fill out the 59-point questionnaire in an accurate manner, he added. Al-Batil said that field supervisors based on nature of the districts for which they are responsible will decide on the number of women data collectors required to work during the 4th National Census for Population and Housing that starts on April 28 throughout the Kingdom. CDSI has already trained about 43,000 men, mostly schoolteachers, on how to conduct census operations. Al-Batil said preparations are successfully under way for the census, which the Kingdom is conducting along with other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Saudi Arabia will complete the entire census operation in a two-week period ending May 12. Based on the information collected through the census operation, the Ministry of Planning will create a database, which in turn will help policymakers make important decisions in many sectors related to economic and social activities.
