Day after day Saudi women are meeting the challenges before them to play a greater part in the march of progress, and in one corner of the Kingdom particularly they have been making unprecedented strides, working with the growing influx of foreigners from around the world, helping to unmask truths and debunk myths, as female tourist guides in Tabuk. As their work becomes increasingly important to the tourist sector, women guides in Tabuk are seeking official recognition in order to bring greater professionalism to their work and give them the employment stability afforded to their male counterparts. “I started working as a tourist guide when Dhebaa' was named a tourist port,” says Munira Aseeri: “It helped that I spoke English, as I was teaching English at a school in Tabuk. But at the beginning it wasn't easy, especially when I realized that this kind of work wasn't officially permitted for women, although no objections are made in reality.” “The problems come from society itself. But the experience has changed the way others see us, and by being Saudi women we need to have contact with other nationalities, and our working in tourism will help greatly in improving the impression tourists have of us. Some are amazed merely at finding out that we are Saudis, and they tell us all about the mistaken impressions they had of us before coming to the Kingdom.” “I'm hoping now that people will become aware of the role we are playing in the development of tourism,” Munira says, “that our profession gains recognition, and that we are given the official backing to allow us to work side by side with men in building the future of our children.” “Naturally it was difficult at first, with many people refusing to accept what I do, making derogatory remarks and being critical, given the way people generally look down on Saudi women working as tourist guides,” says Nuha Ghazaway. “But over time our work has become a necessity, and we still hope to work independently at some point without having to function as assistants or supporters to the main guides. We hope to attain official recognition and be given fixed contracts or government permits that recognize us and allow us to work as tourist guides without a mixing of the genders. This would go a long way to showing that Saudi women are capable of working without abandoning their religion or the values of our conservative society.” Guide trainer Tariq Khalifa says that the female Saudi guides have played a vital role in the development of the area, but he would like to see greater support from official sectors in the light of the attention given to tourism by Prince Sultan Bin Salman, head of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities. “I hope that society can develop a greater awareness of how to interact with tourists and that we can open up new avenues in this area of work for Saudi women officially, as they are going a long way to changing the image that foreigners have of Saudi women.”
