Life for Women

Bism Illah wa as salaamu alaykum.

I have had a couple of people ask me about social life and what women can do with their time here. There are various options.

If a woman wants to work, she can easily get employment as a teacher of English if she is a native speaker. If she doesn't have a degree, she may get a job in a private school or nursery school. If she has a degree, then she may have a wider choice of places to work. If she has a degree and a TEFL, CELTA, or similar certification, then she can apply to work at Taibah University. There are several companies that hire English teachers and then subcontract them out to different universities and institutions. If you sign a contract with one of those companies, it is possible when they are desperately trying to fill positions, that they will take you even if you don't have the ideal qualifications. There is a great difference in the salaries from perhaps SAR 2000 for a private school with no degree, to SAR 9,000 with benefits for a job at Taibah.

That said, if a woman wants to work without the headache and structure of a formal job, tutoring is very big business here. I cannot count how many times I have been asked to teach English privately. It is lucrative, you can work as much or as little as you like,  and you can set your own hours. If a visa and iqama (residence permit) aren't an issue, this is the route I would recommend. However, if you need a job to get your visa and iqama, then usually the low paying jobs won't provide them. It would be something you would have to ask about straight away, before anything else.

Of course, I already said that there are plenty of opportunities to learn Quran, Arabic, and about Islam mashaa'Allah. However, don't expect much else when it comes to learning or programs for women. There aren't many libraries, there aren't classes to develop interests or learn new sports, and you really have to get together with people of like mind if you want to do any kind of crafting circle or organised activities.

Socially, we cannot drive so our drivers, aka our husbands,  are the ones we have to "book" for any outings or events. As this is the way of life, the men are usually accommodating. One sister established a monthly talk on Fridays on health and nutrition. We had the idea of having a monthly activity for the children - similar to a scouts concept. Sisters get together at parks and each others' houses. We like to meet up at Masjid an Nabawi on Jumuah. School or tahfiz programs often give us another outlet for socialization as we make and meet friends there. Of course there are always the malls, where sisters could go and browse and then stop for coffee. We have Starbucks, Costa Coffee, etc. here and they have separate sections for sisters.

Just like anywhere, we are usually busy with our families and lives so we are always trying to find time for socialization. That is the plight of the woman...wherever she lives, LOL!