Women and Work: Saudi Arabia

Voice 1:
Hello and welcome to Spotlight. I'm Mike Procter.

Voice 2:
And I'm Ruby Jones. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

Voice 1:
A business woman walks into a hotel. A young girl welcomes her. She is the hotel receptionist. She asks the business woman to sign some payment forms. Then the hotel worker gives the woman her room keys. The business woman smiles. She likes staying here. The young hotel worker turns to welcome the next customer - also a woman. In fact, there are no men here all. This is a women-only hotel!

Voice 2:
The Luthan Hotel and Spa lies in Saudi Arabia's capital city - Riyadh. It is the kingdom's first women-only hotel! The hotel workers are women. The customers are women. And the owners are women! Princess Madawi is head of the hotel's governing committee. She explains one idea behind the Luthan hotel:

Voice 3:
‘Luthan comes from the Arabic word Malath, meaning a place that a person can escape to.'

Voice 1:
Part of the idea is to create a place where women can be at ease. They do not have to keep their heads covered as they do in front of men. They do not have to depend on male family members to take them to the hotel, or to organise their stay. And the women are free to use all the hotel services all the time - like the swimming pool, exercise room and spa. In normal hotels, women can only use these services at particular times.

Voice 2:
The Luthan hotel opened in 2008. And it already has the support of many business women. Fadwa al Hamoud is a doctor from a town in the east of Saudi. She has stayed at the Luthan. She says:

Voice 4:
‘I enjoyed it. I like the idea of only-for women...'

‘I feel free... it is very difficult for women to be alone in this city.

Voice 1:
Saudi Arabia has rules that limit women from travelling alone. Until recently, women could not get a room in a hotel without a signed letter of permission from a male family member. Ms Homoud remembers a bad experience she had when travelling alone. She flew to Jeddah for a meeting. But she forgot to take her father's letter - saying he permitted her to go. She tells how the hotel refused to give her a room without the letter. And that it was late at night. Ms Hamoud had to telephone a male friend. He got the room for her in his business' name. Bad experiences like this do not happen in a women-only hotel. It is no surprise to hear Ms Hamoud say:

Voice 4:
'I prefer to stay in a place like this.'

Voice 2:
There are other reasons why women like the Luthan Hotel. Business women welcome a place where they can do business without men around. They see the Luthan as a sign of progress. It is enabling them to work and rest without male restrictions.

Voice 1:
But not everyone sees it in this way. Some women do not support the idea of a female-only hotel. They worry that in the future, it may bring more restrictions in the country. There are already laws that stop men and women mixing together. What if the law-makers decide to make all hotels male-only or female-only? What if all public places become like this? There would increase the divides between men and women even more.

Hasna al Qunayeer is a teacher at King Saud University. She does not agree with the idea behind the hotel. She says:

Voice 5:
‘It is not good. Maybe some people will try to make other hotels like this - keeping the women separate from the men.