A number of Saudis have demanded hospitals exclusively for women as part of a campaign on the social networking site Facebook that started earlier this week.
The campaign, launched by a Saudi woman, has attracted the support of a number of men and women, especially nurses.
The campaign page says only women staff should be present at these hospitals. “Men should be separated from women in government hospitals in order to prevent gender-mixing,” one woman wrote on the page.
She called for government hospitals run by women in order to “provide a clean, healthy and Shariah-compliant environment for women working in the health sector and increase job opportunities for them.”
The women said when such hospitals are established, this would help put an end to the “negative social image” about women medical professionals, which have prevented many young men from marrying nurses.
The campaigners called on women to support them, especially as more men had joined the initiative. They explained that special hospitals for women would protect their privacy and give them more freedom to work.
“Such hospitals would increase the number of Saudi women doctors and nurses, whose numbers are very low now because their parents will not allow them to join the medical profession for fear of gender-mixing,” one of the campaigners wrote.
Faris Al-Qahtani, who joined the campaign, said women-only hospitals would help reduce unemployment among educated Saudi women who specialize in medical sciences.
“There will be work opportunities for women doctors, nurses, pharmacists, technicians and administrators,” he wrote.
He said qualified Saudi women refuse to work in hospitals because of the presence of men and the perceived social stigma.
“Many young men are reluctant to marry nurses because of rumors that they indulge in secret relations with their male colleagues,” he said.
Wafa G., a 26-year-old Saudi female nurse, said because of this, nurses are reluctant to work in hospitals even though they have studied nursing.
Wafa said she gave up her job because of this bad reputation, especially as she is not yet married.
“I will return to my job if I find a husband who understands the nature of my work. This call for women-only hospitals has given me hope that I might go back to work again,” she said.
Nasser Al-Johani, a nurse at Yanbu General Hospital, believes it is essential to separate women from men in hospitals, not because he opposes the idea of women working in a mixed hospital environment but because of the social stigma attached to the profession.
He said members of society who are against women working in the medical profession might relent once these exclusive hospitals are established.
He, however, said: “The negative perception of female nurses is totally wrong. We never see our female colleagues out of working hours.”
Al-Johani said he was supporting the idea of women-only hospitals because they will create tremendous job opportunities for women.
Muhammad Al-Qarni spoke about his personal experience when he was an administrator at a government hospital in Jeddah.
“I saw with my own eyes women mixing with men and I saw women being sexually harassed,” he said.
Al-Qarni said he hoped that there would be women-only hospitals in the Kingdom sooner or later, adding that if it happened he would not mind his wife being employed in the medical profession.
Mansour Al-Asmari fully supported the idea of exclusive hospitals for women, as it would improve job prospects for women medical professionals.
Religious scholars in the Kingdom say they have been calling for the establishment of such hospitals for a long time.
“We have long called for the establishment of special hospitals for women that will preserve their dignity and provide them with job opportunities,” said noted scholar Ayedh Al-Qarni.
“Such hospitals will open the door for women to find employment, especially those who are widowed or divorced and have no one to support them,” said Al-Qarni.
Arab News