Gender Roles in Canada and Saudi Arabia

Gender roles in Canada and in Saudi Arabia are drastically different. These differences can be seen in the way women are viewed by the work force, the government, and within their own household by their families.

In Saudi Arabia working environments’ are very different than those in Canada. A huge reason why this is true is because in Saudi Arabia there are restrictions that prevent women from working. According to Islam a women has the right to work as long as it does not cause harm to her, or others. There is one main issue that prevents many women from taking part in the work place. In Saudi Arabia society considers women in the work place as being inappropriate. This is a moral issue that involves a religious and social point of view; even though more labour is needed the old customs and traditions are still being up held. This is not the case everywhere in Saudi Arabia; due to the government and Saudi nationalists a policy is being enforced to put more Saudi’s in the work place. With the ‘Saudistation’ (that is, Saudi nationals replacing foreign workers) the public and private sectors of work involves a higher level of participation by females. With Saudistation more and more Saudi females are entering the workforce every day and are becoming a more important part of society.

It was not long ago since woman working in Canada were discriminated against. Woman’s entrance to public employment was a very strong and progressive movement; which helped over come many predigests and stereo types. Mass numbers of women first made an impact in the male dominated workplace during the Second World War; because men were being shipped out thousands of unfilled jobs were open for women to choose from. Yet when the war ended and the soldiers returned to Canada many of these female workers were left jobless, and they did not want to go back to being the traditional house wife. Women swiftly invaded the male world of government employment and other sectors of work. Women in Canada accounted for more than 98% of secretaries and more than 90% of nurses, bank tellers, and housekeepers but fewer than 5% were in top management jobs. Today women are the fastest growing entrepreneurs in Canada. In Canada working women are given certain benefits that men do not have and example of this is, fraternity leave and this is when pregnant women take a leave of absents for taking care of their newborn children.

Housing is very traditional in Saudi Arabia, the older generations used to separate the “world of women” from the “world of men”. Typical older houses include a wing for just men; usually this wing is on the first floor, when the second and third floors belong to the women. Even though this sounds like the women get more room for themselves this is not the case, they share their quarters with their children, house keepers, and occasionally the men. Children sleep with their mother until they are around seven and when boys hit puberty they move to the men’s wing of the house. The traditional way of assigning living space is through strict separation of men and women, married couples rarely share the same sleeping accommodation. More modern houses in Saudi Arabia are not made in the traditional way; for example traditional homes are surrounded by fences that are made to shield women from the sight of neighbours. Yet the traditional style of housing is not extinct, it is preserved in the living room and this is where women spend much of their time.

Canadian households are very different from the ones in Saudi Arabia that were previously mentioned. In Canadian culture women and men do not divide the house into levels but men and women both tend to over take certain rooms in a house and declare it as their own. Women tend have more interest in the kitchen and their bathroom and men take interest in the recreation room and the exercise room more than other rooms. This is a generalization and a stereotype but it is also the truth, regardless of whether you are Canadian or Saudi our cultures both are very similar; both men and women have specific sections in the home which are involve men and women dividing the house into separate space. Married women living in Canada are not necessarily the stay at home house wife. We are becoming more and more dependent on women in the labour force. Over the past thirty years women have earned respect, integrity, a spot in the “mans workforce” not to mention a more accommodating place in society. The term ‘soccer mom’ is very conventional when you hear this you think of a stay at home mother who drives a minivan. This is a broad view on what women actually do and this should not be the impression women make on the general public, hopefully one day women will be perceived as working business women.