Working in the area of women's employment over the course of the last five years has opened my eyes to a lot of bias and discrimination that is taking place. We always ask ourselves what can enhance the participation of Saudi women in the private sector, and we all look for solutions, such as technology, benchmark against the West, etc., when in fact there are some small stumbling blocks that are causing a massive increase in the number of unemployed women which will continue to grow if nothing happens. Today, when a woman goes to a job interview, the first three items listed on her CV showcase her name, age and her marital status. In fact, those are the first three things that 90 percent of candidates mention when they are asked to introduce themselves at an interview. Little do these candidates know, that these three elements are priorities for employers and are currently limiting the number of Saudi women in the labor market. Companies actually ask candidates and recruitment agencies to ensure that jobseekers brought in should be under the age of 30, single and with no children. Why, you may ask, are these requirements being sought by companies? The answer is simple: HR and recruitment heads believe that a woman over 30 is not productive if she has no experience; if she is married then the company risks her going on maternity leave and if she has children then her insurance premium is high. Discrimination don't you think? What if I told you that 70 percent of the 300 companies that Glowork currently works with set these three elements as a priority before even interviewing women candidates? With this being said, I ask that the Ministry of Labor and Shoura Council look into what the International Labor Organization has implemented. Today, organizations in Europe cannot ask these questions by law and if asked, the jobseeker can report the organization and HR employee which would lead to legal prosecution. In the UK, some companies have taken it a step further to eliminate gender bias, by asking applicants to apply without placing their first name in the initial application, so that the best candidate in terms of education and experience who applies for the job, regardless of gender, is called for an interview. I have to stress the fact that banning these three questions from the job interview will open several doors for Saudi women to work in the private sector as today women graduating from university are not judged on their education or experience but rather by their age and marital status. Khalid W. Alkhudair is Founder and CEO of Glowork. He can be contacted at: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @khalidalkhudair
