Two young girls were buying lingerie from a man in a lingerie shop. He told one of them that the item she had chosen wasn’t suitable for her but would be for her friend because her breast size was larger. Both of them were embarrassed and left the shop immediately.
What the salesman committed was verbal harassment. If he had known that there were laws to punish him for what he said while doing his job, he might have thought twice before saying what he did. He should have been punished for his callous remark.
This is the type of suffering Saudi women put up with and feel they cannot complain about. There was a decision that approved the idea of women working in lingerie shops but, for many reasons, it hasn’t been implemented yet. One of the reasons is the absence of a legal system that governs and organizes the relationship between men and women in the workplace and between buyers and sellers.
When we hire women in companies, banks or government sectors that employ men and women, such as the media, courts and hospitals, the women are often harassed and sometimes forced to leave their jobs. Even if the woman tries to be patient and files a complaint with the human resources department or employees’ affairs in the company, her rights can’t be assured because there is no law or system that protects her. Some local companies have adopted international harassment laws, but they aren’t much good because of circumstances, tradition and cultural differences.
Last week, I proposed in the Shoura Council the idea of penalizing sexual harassers and emphasized the importance of establishing a law to stop sexual harassment. The proposal was welcomed by the council, which considers protecting women as part of Islam and something that international laws and regulations agree upon.
Sexual harassment is a form of sex or gender discrimination. In the United States, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on race, sex, color, national origin or religion. The prohibition of sex discrimination covers both men and women. Sexual harassment is defined internationally as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.
Victims of sexual harassment can be men or women. The harassed individual could be a victim of a manager, an employer, a colleague, a supervisor from a different department, or sometimes even a visitor.
Some might say that a woman can work according to Shariah regulations with no need for a law to protect her rights in the workplace. I say that enacting a law to protect the rights of women doesn’t contradict the Shariah, but it defines, details and explains clearly the differences between khulwa (a state of seclusion with an unrelated man) and a mixed work environment.
Women can work with male colleagues, but should not be secluded with a man. The law could state that individual meetings should happen in a room with an open door or among other people. When women go out to market products, then she mustn’t be asked to be in a state of khulwa or talk about personal matters because that would be sexual harassment.
We don’t blame the Saudi man or woman employee and say that their situation is exceptional. Sexual harassment laws exist in all advanced countries. The Kingdom is expanding and it is now a member of the World Trade Organization, and we have 7 million expatriates working here. This law will protect Saudi women when dealing with both Saudis and expatriates. There will be legislations as to what is prohibited and what is forbidden.
It is important that victims report any incidence of sexual harassment. Shop owners must also have the courage to take the necessary procedures to prevent sexual harassment from happening. Everyone must understand that sexual harassment is a serious issue.
(Send your comments to [email protected])
