saudi Women have been banned from construction work to 'protect' them!

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Labour has banned women from construction jobs and many areas of metal manufacture in a newly published statement that aims to clarify its gender expectations.

Adel Fakeih, labour minister, has produced a shortlist of 20 jobs deemed unsuitable for women despite wider efforts to encourage them to enter the workplace.

Women are prohibited from “construction work” generally, including repair work, painting, and anything that involves climbing ladders. They are also banned from roles involving digging, laying concrete, repairing or cleaning machines.


Other areas of work from which women are banned include rubber manufacture for tyres, mining, welding, coal production, glass melting and “working in the copper industry or with lead complexes containing more than 10% lead”.

“These decisions are not meant to change our customs or traditions,” the minister said yesterday. “The Saudi woman has every right to work. We are only implementing regulations that will protect her and ensure her rights.”

New restrictions did not apply to foreign women, he added, and it also did not prevent Saudi women from owning companies in the sectors in which they cannot work as employees.

The minister explained that the government is devising new regulation for women in the workplace alongside new regulations concerning the Saudisation of women jobs to come from the Ministry of the Interior.

The minister encouraged other government departments to give feedback and questions as to the new restrictions

‘Saudisation’ is the catch-all term for the government’s nationwide scheme to encourage and install citizens in jobs throughout the private sector. Earlier this year it launched ‘Nitiqat’, a system of assessment that categorised companies operating in the country as ‘red flag’, ‘yellow flag’ or ‘green flag’ depending on the proportion of employees who are Saudi nationals.

Red flag companies – those with the smallest proportion of citizens - have been given until 26 November to address the balance of their Saudi count before the government imposes fines. ‘Yellow flag’ companies will be given until February 2012.

The nationalisation of the workforce has alarmed some international partners, such as India, which has millions of workers in Saudi Arabia, mainly in the construction industry. Last month, the ministry moved to assure Members of Consulate General of India, Non-Resident Keralites Affairs that there would be no immediate mass expulsion of workers as the Nitiqat regime takes effect.

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