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JEDDAH: Racing against old age, a number of Saudi female university graduates have sent a message to officials concerned asking for government jobs before their hair turns grey.
The message, put on a number of websites on Monday, criticized what they called the “impossible conditions” and favoritism in the selection for government jobs. “We have a God-given right to work and a decent life. We do not want to wait anymore for job advertisements having obtained our degrees and after our families have spent large sums of money on our education,” they said.
The graduates described themselves as “old graduates” having completed their university and college education between 1990 and 2008. “Any Saudi woman who graduated four years ago is considered an old graduate according to our group,” they explained.
The women write that some of them are over 40, and that many women have died before they could get jobs. They add that a third group has suffered various tragedies and life complications. “Some of us have torn our university certificates, while others still have them hanging on walls as a memory of a time that has passed. A third group has left them to be covered with dust in remote corners of their homes,” the message said.
The graduates are also asking for compensation for the many years they have remained unemployed. “Ministries and decisions have changed. Names have changed. The employment conditions have become more complicated and we are still sitting idle,” they said asking when will the Civil Service Ministry change its employment conditions.
They also regretted that girls who were as young as their students have been employed in the government sector, while they, as women with experience and high qualifications, still have no hope of getting such jobs.
The graduates said even those of them who were appointed were transferred to remote villages and hamlets with no proper roads or other facilities. “We are ready to go through all these hardships but the Ministry of Civil Service is not,” the message said.
They said they are not looking for the unemployment benefit that is to be paid to the jobless from the next Hijra year. We are not looking for jobs in the private sector that will underrate us. We want to work for the government using the certificates that we obtained many years ago,” they said.
They cited incidents in which some of them have lost their fathers or husbands leaving them with orphans to look after, adding that they are not begging for mercy but asking for their rights.
Mariam Abdullah, a math graduate of 2004, said she has no hope of being appointed in a city or town, and that even jobs in villages that she applied for remain elusive. “Every year, I apply for a job in the remote areas and every time I am told that my name is on the waiting list. Once my name was number six on the list, but was pushed back to number 45. I have not lost hope but it is obvious that I am hoping against hope,” she said.
Abeer Jaber, who graduated in 2003, appealed to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to give orders for their appointment. “The young girls who we taught during our training were appointed but we still are not,” she said.
The message, put on a number of websites on Monday, criticized what they called the “impossible conditions” and favoritism in the selection for government jobs. “We have a God-given right to work and a decent life. We do not want to wait anymore for job advertisements having obtained our degrees and after our families have spent large sums of money on our education,” they said.
The graduates described themselves as “old graduates” having completed their university and college education between 1990 and 2008. “Any Saudi woman who graduated four years ago is considered an old graduate according to our group,” they explained.
The women write that some of them are over 40, and that many women have died before they could get jobs. They add that a third group has suffered various tragedies and life complications. “Some of us have torn our university certificates, while others still have them hanging on walls as a memory of a time that has passed. A third group has left them to be covered with dust in remote corners of their homes,” the message said.
The graduates are also asking for compensation for the many years they have remained unemployed. “Ministries and decisions have changed. Names have changed. The employment conditions have become more complicated and we are still sitting idle,” they said asking when will the Civil Service Ministry change its employment conditions.
They also regretted that girls who were as young as their students have been employed in the government sector, while they, as women with experience and high qualifications, still have no hope of getting such jobs.
The graduates said even those of them who were appointed were transferred to remote villages and hamlets with no proper roads or other facilities. “We are ready to go through all these hardships but the Ministry of Civil Service is not,” the message said.
They said they are not looking for the unemployment benefit that is to be paid to the jobless from the next Hijra year. We are not looking for jobs in the private sector that will underrate us. We want to work for the government using the certificates that we obtained many years ago,” they said.
They cited incidents in which some of them have lost their fathers or husbands leaving them with orphans to look after, adding that they are not begging for mercy but asking for their rights.
Mariam Abdullah, a math graduate of 2004, said she has no hope of being appointed in a city or town, and that even jobs in villages that she applied for remain elusive. “Every year, I apply for a job in the remote areas and every time I am told that my name is on the waiting list. Once my name was number six on the list, but was pushed back to number 45. I have not lost hope but it is obvious that I am hoping against hope,” she said.
Abeer Jaber, who graduated in 2003, appealed to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to give orders for their appointment. “The young girls who we taught during our training were appointed but we still are not,” she said.
