Pay parity with men among other issues listed in a petition RIYADH/TAIF – Noura Al-Fayez, Deputy Minister of Education for Girls' Education, has said that all the demands put before her in a petition from 97,000 female teachers will be taken into consideration and handled by the relevant authorities at the ministry. “Women teachers are the hub of the education process for girls,” Al-Fayez said in a press statement Thursday. “Their professional and personal stability is a primary goal of the ministry.” Al-Fayez added that the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Kingdom's Labor Law “do not discriminate in the application of appointment regulations between male and female job applicants”. The statement assured teachers that the deputy minister would do “everything necessary to fulfill the demands of the teachers”. Al-Fayez received the multiple-demand petition on Wednesday at the Ministry of Education from a six-member group representing 97,000 women teachers from across the Kingdom. The petition's primary request is for equal pay between male and female teachers, demanding that women employed between 2002 and 2004 have their salaries adjusted to match those of their male counterparts. The discrepancy, they say, lies in pay scales and benefits that were introduced but were not applied to females appointed during that period. That left equally-qualified females employed in those years on a lower salary scale than male teachers employed at the same time. The petition group said Wednesday they were pleased by Al-Fayez's commitment to address their demands, but, according to petitioner Mona Abdul Aziz, were dismayed that the deputy minister was unaware of the salary discrepancies. “The deputy minister promised to investigate the issue with the financial affairs official in charge at the ministry,” Abdul Aziz said. “We explained to her the injustice of the situation. We also provided her with all the documents required showing differences in salaries and allowances.”
