By DIANA AL-JASSEM | ARAB NEWS

JEDDAH: With the implementation of the first phase of the Hafiz unemployment program on Dec. 31, 700,000 Saudis will start receiving their monthly allowance.

Reports issued by the Ministry of Labor confirm that the list consists of 560,000 Saudi women against 140,000 Saudi men, a discrepancy that has sparked the debates on unemployment among Saudi women. Some Saudi men accuse women of registering in Hafiz without ever having looked for a job.

Arab News raised the question whether women registered in Hafiz are involuntarily unemployed or if they simply prefer not to work. Do women participate in Hafiz because they are in need of a job or did they find Hafiz a golden opportunity to earn money for doing nothing?

Aisah Natto, a Saudi businesswomen and board member of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), confirmed there were two important reasons for the large number of unemployed Saudi women benefitting from Hafiz.

“The first is that there are not many work opportunities available for women in Saudi Arabia. It is well known and statistics prove that unemployment is widespread among Saudi women, because they are only allowed to work in the education and medical sectors,” she said.

“However,” she continued, “the second reason is that some women prefer not to work. They decide to stay home to take care of children, especially given that most salaries provided for them are estimated between SR2,000 and SR3,000. Hafiz encouraged them to register and receive a monthly payment from the government without doing any effort. It is expected that those women have never searched for a job opportunity.”

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