Obstacles of Saudi Woman Work in the Mixed Environment: A Field Study

Abstract

The study aimed to identify the obstacles facing Saudi woman while working in a mixed work environment. The main study sample consisted of (223) from the health sector female affiliates and were divided into two groups. The first group consisted of (129) participants from the health sector and workers in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) hospitals. The second group involved (94) participants from the health sector and workers in Najran, KSA hospitals. The study adopted the descriptive and analytical approach and the study instrument consisted of a questionnaire to identify the obstacles that the Saudi women encounter in the mixed environment. Results indicated that the most serious obstacles that Saudi woman encounters in the mixed work environment were social, professional, ethical, and psychological obstacles. There were statistically significant differences between the mean scores of women working in Riyadh and those women who working Najran regarding to the social obstacles in favor of women working in Najran and the ethical obstacles in favor of women working in Riyadh. There were no statistically significant differences between both groups in accordance to psychological and professional obstacles and the overall questionnaire degree. Furthermore, there were significant differences due to the nature of the work, whether a physician, nurse, or administrative employee regarding the social obstacles in favor of the woman working the administration field. There were significant differences with regard to both ethical and psychological obstacles in favor of women working in the administration field.

Exploring the challenges for women working in the event and festival sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

“…In many cases, men fail to see that working in a mixed-gender environment is a major difficulty for women. Even more so in the KSA because Saudi society is staunchly patriarchal and maledominated (Al-Hazmi et al, 2017). Moreover, sexual harassment is often justified because of a lack of harassment deterrent laws and regulations (Al-Hazmi et al, 2017).…”

“…They fail to acknowledge that working in a mixed-gender environment is a major difficulty for women. As evidenced by Al-Hazmi et al (2017), this factor is amplified in the KSA because Saudi society is staunchly patriarchal and male-dominated. Moreover, sexual harassment is often justified due to an absence of harassment deterrent laws and regulations (Al-Hazmi et al, 2017).…”

“…They identified the connection between patriarchal society, which rationalises sexual harassment by men so that it appears to be normal behaviour (Kensbock et al, 2015). This could be worse in the KSA because Saudi society is staunchly patriarchal and male-dominated, so sexual harassment is often justified due to an absence of harassment deterrent laws and regulations (Al-Hazmi et al, 2017).…”

Applying the social cognitive career theory to the influence of sociocultural factors on women’s career choices in construction.

“…Vainikolo (2017) observed that employers had different expectations of women and recruited them as their last resort to meet impromptu human resources shortages. This is supported by (AL-Hazmi et al, 2017;Martin and Barnard, 2013) who concluded that some employers perceived women working on construction sites as an obstacle.…”