Kuwait Times

Published Date: August 31, 2007
By Muna Al-Fuzai, Staff columnist

Employees Wanted - (Male Only)" is a common job ad that clearly means that if you were not a male then you are not allowed to apply for this job. The second line usually contains qualifications and required documents for application which also hint that applicants should be males. These racist and sick job announcements are my topic for the day.

Your qualifications and professional experiences are totally irrelevant because what really matter here is that you are male. Gender has to be mentioned in your birth certificate, so if you were not a male then you can't apply or dream to get this job! This is a strong slap in the face of women as no matter what university degree or work experience and professionalism a woman has she still can't apply to certain jobs because simply she is not a male. Some may argue that maybe this job requires a masculine
power or maybe it has a night shift, thus it is more convenient to hire men.

I can't think of a job in the government sector that requires masculine power unless the job is for a bodyguard. As for the night shifts , I think it is a bad law (Labor Law for Women) that restricts the maximum working hours for women until midnight. They can still start working in the afternoon and end their shift at midnight! A lousy excuse and stupid justifications, I think.

What I can't figure out is that some places like Islamic charitable organizations and some official offices here in Kuwait also don't hire women and I don't really know the reason. If a man wants to buy a house or a car or take a flight and was not allowed to because of his color skin, nationality or even his looks, he will feel angry and hurt and says that this was a racist action taken against him. So what about the woman who is not allowed to apply for certain jobs, isn't she suppose to feel hurt and h
ave the same reaction as the man? Does she has to accept that a man thinks for her because he knows better?

I believe that women have the right to apply for any job based on their personal desires and qualifications and not based on their gender. I am upset when some companies keep this note on the first line of their work announcements but I keep saying that this is a private sector and maybe the government is different. But then when the government have the same requirement for some of its civil services jobs announcements, it will only encourage the same negative attitude against women.

Such ads only narrow down the work opportunities for women and keep them stuck in the circle of administration positions which males believe a women can do better in than males, but not based on what she is capable to do and allowed to conquer.

muna@kuwaittimes.net