Job Title: Secretary
Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Submitted on: 08-Apr-04
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Riyadh Armed Forces is a 1000 plus bed military hospital right at the
heart of Riyadh - central province of Saudi Arabia. I have been working
for the Department of Medical Physics, Clinical and Bioengineering since
I joined the hospital (again) in November 2000. Prior that, I was with
this same hospital from November of 1992 until December of 1997, working
as a Clerk for the Work Department (equivalent to Engineering Department
elsewhere). Although I am a licensed Civil Engineer with another
diploma in Electrical Engineering, being female and originally from the
Philippines, my diplomas did not matter much in this country. It did,
however help me land, initially, the clerk post in the engineering dept.
of the hospital. My experience in this post later helped me land the
Secretarial Post where I am right now. Saudi Arabia, and Riyadh in
particular, have very strict customs especially relative to women and
their "place" in society. Basically, they are viewed to be "backward"
by other Western countries but the people here would view it as
being "protective" of their women. Restrictions extend to all females,
regardless of nationailty. If you are here, you are expected to abide
by their customs and traditions. Well, female expatriates draw the line
and would not cover their faces as is expected of Saudi ladies.
Nonetheless, this place could be viewed to be very harsh for most
people. However, living here for so long, one could get "acclimatized"
and would get used to the "quirks" not often seen elsewhere. One could
get used to just the basic things in life and that makes things so much
simplier. Women, however, especially expatriates - are very limited in
as far as opportunities for advancement as undestandably, the locals
prefer to push their own. I guess as my particular field is technical
in nature, and as this place is very much "male-oriented", the hope of a
female in the technical field is a long way off yet. Our department's
section in bioengineering (where I work) in particular, only have 1
female bioengineer and only because there are some areas in the hospital
accessible only to female (ie occupied by female-only patient wards).
She has made herself look as dour as possible in order not to attract
attention as that could spell big trouble. All hospital staff,
including administrative staff, were directed not to wear any cosmetics
(perfumes included) nor jewelry. Of course the expatriates took this to
mean that females should not make any move to make themselves in any
way "attractive" especially to the opposite sex. The hospital have
their in-house "Muttawas" (Religious Police) to roams the grounds
ensuring that all abide by the strict religious rules. Still, overall,
this is a great place to "save" money and bring to ones' native land to
spend. We do get 6 weeks paid holiday every year with free return
tickets for the whole family. So some expatriates would say that the
good outweighs the bad. In my case, I would agree too but there are
times when I crave to be more intellectually challenged. I long for the
day when I could go back to technical work. Some day...women in Saudi
Arabia would be allowed to work with the same opportunities as men...in
year 2005 perhaps?...YES!! Of the Hijira calendar!
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