Expat Community > Saudi Arabia

cmacke
Joined 2011
Posts: 1

Women in Saudi Help!!!

13 years ago

Hello,

My name is Casey Macke and I am a senior at the University of Georgia taking a capstone class in intercultural communication. For our final presentation, we have to have live-feedback from a person who is an expat, worker, or very familiar with Saudi Arabia for our project. I found this expat group online and am desperately hoping that someone in this group can give me some feedback about what it is like for a woman to be an ex-pat and work in Saudi Arabia. Any input you have would be very much appreciated. I have included some questions that I would really appreciate you answering if you have time.

Thank you so much in advance for your help,

Casey Macke

Background: We were given an occupation and a country and have to come up with an intercultural consulting presentation about that position and country. Ours is an American nurse taking a position in a hospital in Saudi Arabia.

Here are the questions:

1. If a nurse wanted to go about changing a schedule with a higher up (i.e. doctor) how would she do that? If they said no, would that be the final say or is there a way to keep trying without being disrespectful?
2. When someone says no in a business or personal conversation, do they mean no- final answer? Can you persist in a different way or is it considered extremely rude to do so in Saudi Arabia?
3. Would the way she delegated tasks in the hospital be the same as in the US? If not, what cultural differences would she have to account for? Is it okay for a woman to have this kind of role?
4. If a male patient came in to the hospital, what precautions would the American nurse have to take so that she was acting appropriately? Do Saudi Men know that American/Canadian nurses often work in these hospitals?
5.. If she were to leave the compound and go out into the market or city, what would she have to remember about interacting with Saudi's (both men and women)? Should she refrain from eye-contact with men? How will the Saudi women react to her?
6. Does the marketplace use bartering? How would she conduct her communication with others while shopping?
7. Do you have an example of an American woman making a huge mistake regarding her communication that got her in a lot of trouble or was an embarassment to her? What is the story and how would you have advised her to act differently?
8. Is there any other general information you would give an American women regarding communication in Saudi Arabia?

Thank you again so much for your time.

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