RIYADH: Exchanging the traditional abaya for workmen's overalls, increasing numbers of young Saudi women are in training to become electricians, plumbers, and air-conditioning unit repair ladies. Described by Al-Hayat Arabic earlier this week as “not something out of a surreal image”, it is instead very much the reality of what is happening at Riyadh's King Saud University, where 32 Saudi female students have enrolled on its electricity and maintenance course. “The university is keen to provide this training so women can increase their involvement in the government sector,” said Dr. Safiya Malla of the university's Operations and Support Services. “It's a two-day a week three-month long course for students who have secondary school certificates. One third of the seats on the course are given to members of the university, another third to government employees, and the other to ordinary members of the public.” Malla added that graduates from the training would go on to work in ministry's maintenance and operations departments. The current number of 32 trainees is up from the 15 applicants to the previous course. Others have been placed on the waiting list. “The course is really going to help,” one trainee told Al-Hayat. “Foreigners exploit the profession in places where women work by charging exorbitant prices.”
