Kuwait: Despite their country's reputation as a socially free society, several Kuwaiti families are continuing to exert pressure on women to avoid mixing with men in professional areas.
According to a report in Kuwaiti daily Al Qabas, Kuwaiti women holding high degrees have opted not to be promoted and preferred to remain at lower positions in order to avoid moving from sections where all the employees are women to mixed departments.
The women said they did not wish to work alongside men or to deal with men in their daily operations and routines, even if it meant lower salaries and less professional benefits.
“Many Kuwaiti families exert pressure on officials and even on lawmakers to intervene and ensure their women are kept in all women-sections and not transferred to or appointed in positions where they have to deal or work alongside men,” one employee told the daily.
Another woman said she held a university degree in accounting, but never got a promotion as her husband insisted that she works only with other women.
“I am stuck in the archive section because all the employees there are women and they have no direct contact with men,” she said. “There is no possibility for me to get a promotion because it would mean moving to a section where I would be dealing with men either as co-employees or from the public.”
However, the woman added that she was not sorry with her status.
“What my husband has imposed does not make me sad because I know there are men who do not respect their limits. Some of them even use outrageous words and expressions when their transactions are delayed. Whenever a colleague suffers such terrible situations, I am grateful that I am in the archive section,” she said.
According to another employee, several departments have an issue with the overstaffing in sections such as the archives as a result of the high number of women there, while other sections face shortage problems.
