Saudi Arabia: 28,000 women apply for 30 train driver jobs...

[caravanman]

It is the first time train driver jobs have been advertised for women in Saudi Arabia
A rail company recruiting 30 female train drivers in Saudi Arabia says it has received 28,000 applications.
The successful candidates will drive high-speed trains between the holy cities of Mecca and Medina after a year of training.
It is the first time such roles have been advertised for women in the conservative Muslim kingdom.

Saudi Arabia: 28,000 women apply for 30 train driver jobs

 

[Bob Dylan]

Does any Citizen in Saudi Arabia have a real job?

Every time I see Video from there everyone is out and about or in the Mosques.

I know for many years they used imported workers ( Temporary Visas) to do most of the work, and of course the Royal Family doesn't have to work, they just leech off State!

Perhaps this radical departure from tradition is a sign that the Men of this Country don't want these jobs??

 

[caravanman]

Not sure Jim, I think there is a "small" move towards equality, in that females are allowed to drive cars now, and I guess these rail jobs are a token gesture of some kind?
The Kingdom has so much money from it's oil, that most citizens probably don't need to work...
Obviously, our thinking in the west is rather different to their traditions, so I see the employment of women in this sort of role as quite a big step...

 

[Bob Dylan]

Not sure Jim, I think there is a "small" move towards equality, in that females are allowed to drive cars now, and I guess these rail jobs are a token gesture of some kind?
The Kingdom has so much money from it's oil, that most citizens probably don't need to work...
Obviously, our thinking in the west is rather different to their traditions, so I see the employment of women in this sort of role as quite a big step...

Thanks Eddie!

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I know for many years they used imported workers ( Temporary Visas) to do most of the work, and of course the Royal Family doesn't have to work, they just leech off State!

They were little more than desert Bedouins before an insatiable thirst for stinky sludge made them billionaires.

Obviously, our thinking in the west is rather different to their traditions, so I see the employment of women in this sort of role as quite a big step...

I was deeply concerned by reports of state sanctioned murder of journalists and rampant abuse of servants but most of the Western outrage seems focused on how much freedom they grant their princesses.

 

[flitcraft]

Abuse of guest workers is, sadly, not limited to the Middle East. When I was in Hong Kong not that long ago, there were parks where the 'guest workers' who tend to Hong Kong children and housework went on their meager off days to share Southeast Asian snacks and listen to their preferred music. My Hong Kong friends barely noted their cramped and limited lives. Come to think of it, in the US there are lots of low wage workers whose work makes the rest of our lives more comfortable. We live in a world where some work unconscionable hours, wages and working conditions, and we barely notice.

But that veers into politics, if basic human rights counts as politics. So, to bring it back to trains, it is heartening to see at least some some number of railway employment opening to women in Saudi Arabia. And the huge number of applicants tells us something else about that society.

(Okay, sorry, not sorry, about veering off into politics again...)

 

[Devil's Advocate]

When I was in Hong Kong not that long ago, there were parks where the 'guest workers' who tend to Hong Kong children and housework went on their meager off days to share Southeast Asian snacks and listen to their preferred music. My Hong Kong friends barely noted their cramped and limited lives. Come to think of it, in the US there are lots of low wage workers whose work makes the rest of our lives more comfortable. We live in a world where some work unconscionable hours, wages and working conditions, and we barely notice.

I'm as willing to criticize the US as anyone, and I agree we are far below best-in-class worker rights, but including us in a discussion about rights in Saudi Arabia and China sounds like false equivalency to me. That being said it's amazing to realize even Saudi Arabia now has real HSR service before the US.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

That being said it's amazing to realize even Saudi Arabia now has real HSR service before the US.

So does Africa (well, Morocco, to be pendantic is technically North Africa, but still Africa).

 

[jis]

So does Africa (well, Morocco, to be pendantic is technically North Africa, but still Africa).

I am puzzled. Saudi Arabia is a country, whereas Africa is a continent. Aren't we suffering from a bit of confusion of categories here?

 

[Ziv]

Saudi Arabia is a tough nut to figure out. They seem to be modernizing, slightly. They now allow women outside the house without a male guardian and I believe as Caravanman stated that women can drive as well. I believe that women got the right to drive a car in 2018 or so. I believe that they also allowed a woman to sing in a concert publicly for the first time in 60 or more years. They have opened theme parks and had western events like monster truck rallies. So Saudi Arabia is making small steps towards modernity.
But part of the difficulty about getting to grips with Saudi attempts to modernize is the fact that much of the "modernizing" effort is being driven by Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the same guy that seems to have ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. One step forward and two steps back, perhaps?

Not sure Jim, I think there is a "small" move towards equality, in that females are allowed to drive cars now, and I guess these rail jobs are a token gesture of some kind?
The Kingdom has so much money from it's oil, that most citizens probably don't need to work...
Obviously, our thinking in the west is rather different to their traditions, so I see the employment of women in this sort of role as quite a big step...

 

[joelkfla]

That being said it's amazing to realize even Saudi Arabia now has real HSR service before the US.

Well, not really. It is an absolute monarchy, so the royal family can do whatever they want, and they seem to be pretty loose with their spending. It's more akin to China than the U.S.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

I am puzzled. Saudi Arabia is a country, whereas Africa is a continent. Aren't we suffering from a bit of confusion of categories here?

Well, I suppose so.... I'm never sure where Saudi Arabia falls continentally, Asia, Africa, Eurasia?

 

[jis]

Well, I suppose so.... I'm never sure where Saudi Arabia falls continentally, Asia, Africa, Eurasia?

Asia. Just like Israel and Jordan and of course UAE and the other little Emirates, and Muscat and Oman and Yemen and its bits and pieces as they fragment.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

Asia. Just like Israel and Jordan and of course UAE and the other little Emirates, and Muscat and Oman and Yemen and its bits and pieces as they fragment.

True...

(of course, the Gautrain in SA is also pretty speedy, so we can add two countries in Africa....)

 

[daybeers]

One step forward and two steps back, perhaps?

Very much indeed.