90% of female engineers hold desk jobs

JEDDAH: The workforce nationalization program in the Kingdom has revealed the injustices faced by female graduates from engineering colleges in finding suitable jobs as more than 90 percent of them are being forced to work in administrative positions.
Engineers working in the sector told a local publication that a number of obstacles prevent female graduates from working in the field, mainly the lack of suitable work environment for them. Other obstacles are the weak education outputs of some colleges, and the differing departments responsible for supervising the engineering specialty at some schools.
They noted that only 10 percent of the total number of engineering offices employ female graduates.
Areej Ghandora, the former head of Female Engineers Committee at the Saudi Council of Engineers (SCE), said that the weak output of education in Saudi universities for girls has pushed many female engineers to work in the administrative positions, in addition to the problems associated with the general nature of the conservative Saudi society which makes it difficult for women to work in the field.
Husain Al-Mushait, chairman of the Engineering Offices Committee, said that most female graduates work in administrative jobs under the job title of "drawing and designing".
He also noted that the number of female graduates from the engineering colleges does not exceed 2,000 annually. "Less than 10 universities here in the Kingdom provide engineering specialty for women. Additionally, the number of Saudi female engineers registered at the Saudi Council of Engineers amounts to only 260."
A recent report by the Ministry of Labor revealed that 52 percent of the female national workforce is employed in the building and construction sector, in administrative and clerical jobs, and about 17 percent work in sales. Other dominant professions included management, scientific and technical jobs, services, industrial, chemical, and food processing operations.