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Saudi Gazette Wednesday, 21 July 2010
NAJRAN – A study by the King Abdul Aziz Center for National Dialogue has revealed that nearly 90 percent of people support Saudi women working in the health sector, with 78 percent backing women wishing to train in nursing or work in laboratories and supporting medicine, and 83 percent expressing confidence in their ability to work as doctors.
Al-Madina Arabic daily reported Sunday that the figures, however, revealed a disparity between the views of males and females, with greater support exhibited by women who see the need for their presence in the health sector as more urgent, and who expressed more strongly the wish to see put into effect regulations governing their work in the health sector. The study also found a direct relation between support for women and income, with higher income groups expressing greater confidence in the abilities of women to work in the health sector than lower income groups. A similar correlation was apparent with levels of education, with persons of higher qualifications showing more support for women working in areas such as laboratories, radiology and medical support fields. The survey, which required responses to general and specific questions on women in the health sector on a scale of between “complete support” and “complete opposition”, found that 89.5 percent of those asked backed women working in health generally, with four percent entirely opposed. Over 82 percent of persons questioned expressed full confidence in women working as doctors against 5.7 percent entirely opposed. About 77 percent backed more women training in nursing against opposition of 8.7 percent, while 77.6 percent supported women working in laboratories, radiology and medical support fields, with 8.6 percent opposed. About 83 percent agreed that there was an urgent need for women in the health sector generally, a suggestion opposed by 6 percent, while 87 percent said that regulations governing women’s work in areas involving mixing of the sexes had become an urgent requirement, with 4.4 percent in full disagreement. – SG
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