Dirty Dinar

The title says it all, doesn’t it? I’ll spare you all from reading the post and just declare it.

Okay, first of all, I can’t believe I’ve neglected the blog for 3 months! Time flies when you’re spending money!

The last time I wrote here I was considering jumping into debt. I needed a car and I wasn’t willing to settle for a cheap second-hand car. A lot of you advised me against taking out a loan, others told me to think about car purchases seriously. I honestly had to take time out to figure things out for myself. In the end, I took out a KD 7,000 loan. I know, I know. It hurts but the good thing is that I shopped around for the best interest rates and I took out a loan that still allows me to save. I won’t bore you with all the details now, I’ll save those for another post.

In a nutshell, what’s happened in the last three months:

1. The government announced they were increasing salaries by KD120 per month (this is on top of the KD240 governmental allowance we get in the private sector)
2. I took a loan for KWD 7,000
3. Parliament was dissolved and I’m interested to see if new faces get voted in on May 17th!
4. I have gone on a few business trips that depleted the few savings I had
5. I started researching finance programs that will help me reach my financial goals

I need to update my sidebars. My savings are in a bad state, having been significantly reduced by both the new car and business trips. I have been spending without thinking. I need to get back to my budget! I also have to put down a sidebar counting down the amount until I’m debt-free.

The first quarter of 2008 has not been good to my savings goals. Like I said, my finances are a complete mess, but 2008 isn’t over yet! Now excuse me while I go read your comments and try my best to reply!

Here’s a sad story from the Arab Times:

Kuwait : A Kuwaiti woman recently visited the Al-Rai daily to tell about her financial difficulties and offered to sell the retina and cornea of one of her eyes and a kidney to help her pay her debts, reports Al-Rai daily. The woman, who is a widow, is a former employee of the Ministry of Health and is a mother of three children. It has been reported the woman owes KD 19,000 to a bank and KD 5,000 to a company.

It’s incredible that the woman is in such a desperate state as to want to give up body parts. It’s the first time I’ve heard of something of its kind in Kuwait. One of my first thoughts was why the woman wasn’t employed at the Ministry of Health anymore. Is she retired? Couldn’t she find another job?

I hope she finds a way to become debt-free without having to resort to such extreme measures.

I’ve been a bad girl. It’s only the beginning of the week and I spent over half of my weekly allowance on pure vanity. I spent KWD 57.500 today at the salon.

Last week, when I was at the salon getting my weekly blowdry, my hairdresser mentioned that they have a treatment for my long curly hair that will eliminate my bad hair days for the next six months. The treatment will take place over a period of four sessions. Each session is an hour long and will cost me 60 dinars. The final result will reduce the coarseness of my hair and eliminate frizz. It will also eliminate my need to get my weekly blowdry. It will save me time AND bad hair days!

I got there today I arrived fully prepared to spend the money. The process was a little boring. My hairdresser washed my hair clean, and then proceeded to distribute the product on my hair brushing it through. As I’ve mentioned, my hair is long and curly so it took a while to get it all covered. Then she had to use a hair straightener over my hair to lock the product in. When she finally straightened all my hair she took me back to get my hair washed and a masque put on my hair. This was the relaxing part. She spent ten minutes massaging my scalp and it was the loveliest feeling. After that she washed the masque out of my hair and blow-dried it.

When I got to the cashier I was ready to pay KWD 60 but they only charged me 50. I was charged KWD 10 less and I got a free blowdry! The cashier told me that I will continue getting a free blowdry for the next three sessions. My hairdresser recommended that I use a special shampoo to supplement my treatment and I bought it for KWD 7.500.  That’s what brought my total expenditure to KWD 57.500.

How much does taking care of my hair usually cost? My usual blowdry costs me KWD 6 and I always tip my hairdresser KWD 1. Over a period of six months I spend KWD 168 on blow drying my hair at a salon. The treatment I’m going to continue will cost me KWD 200. I don’t mind spending the extra money when it will dramatically reduce the time I go to the salon.

To all my girls out there, what have you spent in the name of beauty? I know that we sometimes get ridiculous when it comes to hair, make up and clothes.

I’ve always believed men had it better when it comes to saving money from haircuts to clothes. Guys, how much does it cost you to look that good? 

Today’s Kuwait Times featured the article below. I didn’t realize that the number of women in the private sector was so low. Is it possible that only 5% of Kuwaiti women work in the private sector? I’m proud to be one of them but that percentage seems really low! I can’t help but think this is inaccurate. I know plenty of women who own their own businesses and work in the private sector.

KUWAIT: Kuwait is in the forefront of Arab countries in view of women’s participation in labor force by 42 per cent in line with 2006 statistics, an Arab economist said here yesterday.

The percentage of Kuwaiti women’s involvement in labor force is continuously on the increase, having recorded roughly 37 percent and 42 percent in 2003 and 2006 respectively, Riyad bin Jalili, an economist at the Arab Planning Institute (API), told a symposium on women and development in the Arab world.

Most working women, who are university graduates, are concentrated in the public sector by around 95 percent, he said. In spite of the high percentage of Kuwaiti women’s participation in labor force, leading state posts are often inaccessible to them, having stood up at merely six percent in 2004, Jalili added.

Kuwaiti working women’s diversified presence in the labor market is still meager if compared to other Arab countries, he said, arguing that the upward trend of women’s education has a limited impact on their diversified involvement in the labor market. They account for 45 percent in administrative professions, 24 percent in teaching and just four percent in medicine and science.

However, divorced women were more active than married ones in terms of economic activities in 2006, he said. Joblessness among Kuwaiti females and males hit 5.2 percent and 2.7 percent respectively in 2006, he added. — KUNA

Published Date: January 23, 2008 in the Kuwait Times

Kuwait Times published an article yesterday by Muna Al-Fuzai, a staff columnist, titled “Kuwaiti Women Accept Discrimination“. My first opinion was that the piece was poorly edited, poorly written and contained sweeping generalizations. However, I have seen some examples of what she’s mentioned so I broke down her article in block quotes and shared my thoughts below each one.

Kuwait women accept discrimination. This is not a public rule, but as long as only a few people are fighting discrimination against Kuwaiti women, then this is what I believe to be the case in Kuwait today. It is a sad and cruel reality, but this is still accepted by many ladies even by most of those who call themselves activists! Why can’t they say no and why can’t they fight back?

Unfortunately, only a few women fight discrimination because a large number believe that they should be confined to a certain role in society.

We have to stop thinking that allowing women to drive cars and go to work and maybe put on what she likes is all what women need and is enough to reflect women’s development in Kuwait. These are tiny details that don’t mean anything in regards to making decisions or planning the future of her country. She is expected to follow the male code where the man assumingly knows better and maybe thinks with a better brain!

Women in all Gulf countries are allowed to work. Yes, in some of these countries women are limited to where they can work but Kuwait has always been the leader of the region in having motivated and driven women with high positions in leading companies and organizations. Kuwaiti women have always been a well respected member of the work force.

In public life, women’s existence is still insufficient to make her word heard or noticed or even obeyed! She receives hits from different groups because she is a woman and no matter what degrees or experiences she has does not equal them. Men do not want to show successful examples of women in public because her success will only harm them and limit and threaten their power over other women in the society!

We have a successful number of Kuwaiti women in nearly all career fields. We have influential women in the media. The author of this piece, Muna Al-Fuzai, certainly has had her word heard and noticed by writing in a prominent Kuwaiti newspaper.

Maha Al-Ghunaim has recieved international and local recognition because of her work at Global Investment House. Her success is an inspiration to other women and example that Kuwaiti women do hold high-ranking positions and provide value to the work force.

An example of this are the laws that area against women, such as laws that hinder her from advancing in her career. A lady with a PhD can teach students law in the university, but she can’t obtain the post of a judge because conservative parties use pathetic excuses why she cannot have this job such as women cannot make right decisions since she is too emotional. These excuses are all unfair speculations and false allegations against professional and experienced women. Female judges run the court on a set law and not based on their minds and feelings!

Yes, there is discrimination but we have to work together to overcome them.

A woman is welcomed to work only if a man consents to her type of work or benefits from it! I know many girls in college who were very talented and yet ended up as teachers in primary schools because their husbands or fathers don’t want to see them in a place with men!

I vehemently disagree with the first statement. As a working female, I did not have a male consent to my type of work or benefit from it. That is partly due to the fact that I come from a supportive family that wants to see me excel in life.

I do know women who were constrained to being teachers because of the wishes of their families. These women can break free from these shackles but will face consequences to defying the family. In a country where you’re expected to live in the family home if you’re single and move out only when you’re married, many do not go against their family because it will bring a great deal of misery and grief to their home. It is a personal choice whether they choose to comply with the rules of the family at the expense of their future.

There are many women who come from very religious backgrounds who hold PhDs and work in their fields in the company of men with the blessing of their families. Each family has a different outlook and mindset regarding these issues so a broad generalization is unfair to Kuwaiti women.

A religious Islamic ruling was made recently to approve the husband’s right to take his wife’s salary because the time she spent outside was his own and thus he is entitled to take her salary which she worked hard to earn! Now, men in this society prefer working women because he will be able to use her salary for himself! A law was even issued in Kuwait to prevent women from working after 8 pm. Laws give all rights for men to choose their partner, but if a woman does this, she will be humiliated and punished.

In Islam, the Quran states clearly that each spouse is entitled to what they earn. Islam also states that a husband has to provide for his wife. I don’t know where Muna got her Islamic ruling from but there have been many who claimed all sorts of things in the name of Islam. It doesn’t make them right. It’s unfair of her to accuse and blame Kuwaiti men of taking advantage of this. I did some research and found Forza Kuwait has direct quotes to support this.

That said, I do know there are many families in Kuwait, particularly those with a Bedouin background, who claim the salaries of their children. Those earners are alloted an allowance although it is rightfully their money. So who do you blame? Society for allowing this to happen or the family for continuing these practices?

The law that passed to prevent women from working beyond 8PM is one of the laws that was made in the name of protecting women and preventing vice. I do not agree with it, but what Muna should have mentioned is that the Ministry of Social Labour has exceptions for these rules for various work fields. Kuwaiti women still work 24 hour shifts at hospitals. Women still serve restaurants, work in retail stores, banks, and work in various other jobs beyond 8PM.

I will not even dignify her statement that, “Laws give all rights for men to choose their partner, but if a woman does this, she will be humiliated and punished,” with a response.

Sadly, many people think that if a woman receives a promotion or a raise, this is due to her wasta or contacts and not due to her abilities or how hard a worker she is! Even when a new government is formed here in Kuwait, it avoids appointing more than one woman at a time. I believe that one article is not enough to recite all the examples of discrimination against women and not only Kuwaiti women, but every woman who happens to be part of this society. Can women fight back? Yes, but this is not an easy step and the process is hard and it requires unity, sacrifice and lot’s of sincere effort.

Many Kuwaiti women, be they colleagues, friends or relatives, have been promoted and gotten raises. With each one there has been nothing but support and goodwill. We all know how hard each one of us works. Kuwaiti women may hold prominent positions but we still have to suffer the glass ceiling here and there.

As for her second comment about the government it is laughable. Women have only recently gained the right to vote. It is a wonder at all that we have any women at all in the government! We still do not have a female MP but give it time and it will happen.

Women have traditionally had a struggle balancing family life and a career but I do sincerely believe that as a Kuwaiti woman I do have it easier than others. Our government aids us in balancing life and work and our religion has always protected the rights of women.

Our current trend in Kuwaiti society is that Islamist MPs are trying to pass as many laws they can to segregate the society and curb some rights from women in the name of promoting morality. They have begun by segregating Kuwait University and private universities. I do not believe they will ultimately win this struggle because Kuwaiti women has always enjoyed their rights to work and manage their finances.

As a Kuwaiti woman, I do not believe I am being discriminated against and if I were I would not accept it.