Saudi Arabia: Sexual harassment by supervisor forces woman to resign

By Hassna’a Mokhtar, Arab News

JEDDAH: Lubna Alam, 35, was once a successful banker. She longs for the excitement and independence it brought her. Yet, she recalls the reasons that forced her to quit her job. She became fed up with her supervisor’s sexual harassment.

“My supervisor used to call my mobile late at night for trivial reasons. When I ignored his calls, he’d be rude to me the next day at the office. Whenever we held a meeting, he’d vulgarly comment on my looks or my clothes. It was psychologically and emotionally disturbing, and I didn’t know what to do,” said Lubna, nervously popping her fingers.

Lubna bent a lot of rules to keep working but was tiring of the situation. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when her supervisor gave her two choices: To go out on a date with him or resign.

With the absence of a legislated system that governs the relationship between men and women in the workplace, Lubna’s situation is a common problem.

In February 2008, Arab News reported that the Social, Family and Youth Affairs Committee at the Shoura Council was drafting a legal system to protect women in the workplace. The draft also included sexual-harassment laws. Local newspapers recently reported that the draft law suggests a SR50,000 fine and a prison sentence of up to three years for people found guilty of sexually harassing women in the workplace.

However, even if a law is issued, most sexual harassment cases would go undetected because of the unwillingness of women to report them, said Mazin Balilah, Shoura member at the Cultural and Informational Affairs Committee and the person who proposed the idea of having such laws. This leads to the question why women shy away from reporting harassment?

A recent report in Al-Madinah newspaper stated that women lack awareness, fear society’s reaction, and worry about their reputation and being accused of provoking men’s harassment.

Amani Al-Mohamadi is a 30-year-old saleswoman. Her work does not require direct communication with men. Once she struggled with a problem and had to consult her manager.

“I spoke to my manager. I found him extra nice to me. He asked for my cell phone number and gave me his in return. He said I could call anytime. Then he asked me not to share the number with anyone else. He started sending me text messages with disgusting sexual content,” she said.

Amani confronted her manager. Two weeks later she was transferred to a new branch. Fearing she might lose her job and the only means of financially supporting her family, Amani learned to put up with her manager’s twisted games and avoid confrontation.

“No one supervises the workplace in terms of sexual harassment, especially the private sector. This has contributed to an increase in such incidents,” said Amani.

Suhaila Zainul Abidin, an activist working with the Saudi Society for Human Rights, said that many women prefer remaining silent than reporting cases of harassment as they worry about damaging their reputations. “The harasser is the one to worry. He should be punished and defamed ... this will not happen unless women speak,” she said.

Last week, an Egyptian man was sentenced to three years in jail with hard labor for sexually harassing a woman in Cairo. He was also ordered to pay the woman $895 in damages. In hopes of a safer work environment, women are eager to see the same in the Kingdom. Working women want to be assured that employers and coworkers will not sexually harass them.