Antecedentes de la investigación

4.0 Introduction

Chapter four, the first fieldwork chapter, explores the situation of the women and specifically gives an experiential insight into women living in poverty; who they are, how they come to live in the Rubats, and how they manage. The evidence was derived through the use of questionnaire, followed by a semi-structured interview, and covered basic background information about the women, such as; age, nationality, educational status.

4.1 Who Lives in the Rubats

Two major categories of women live in the Rubats: older and disabled women and younger women with children.

4.1.1 Age of Residents

In Saudi Arabia people tend to think of old age as starting at 60. The Rubats receive women of all ages, but 84 of the 117 women in the study were aged 50 years and above and of these, 64 were 60+ years of age. The number of older women in the Rubat is high, which is explained by the fact that given their age and the fact that all their relatives may be dead, only the Rubats provide them much needed economic and social support. Significantly, only 14% of these older women were Saudi nationals. When non-Saudis chose not to return to their countries of origin for various reasons, they had no other option than to live in the Rubats.

One of the reasons for the low number of Saudi older women is that Saudi Arabia is still seemingly traditional in its duties to older parents; the extent of change occurring in the Saudi society has impacted less on older women than on younger divorcees and younger widows. As commonly and severally represented in the Qur’an, people should care for their parents: “And the Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him. And that you are dutiful to your parents. If one of them or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of disrespect, nor shout at them but address them in terms of honour.” And lower to them the wing of submission and humility through mercy, and say: “My Lord! Bestow on them Your

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Mercy as they did bring me up when I was young” (Surah 17-Al-Isra, Part 15, 1996). Despite the need for improvements in housing for elderly people, it is believed that families in Saudi Arabia should care for their own parents.

Figure 4.1 presents the distribution of residents by age groups. According to Shalash (2007), many Saudis feel that the increasing provision of housing for older people leads to families neglecting their duties under Islam. However, there is no doubt that some elderly parents suffer from neglect at the hand of their children (Al-Naim, 2001).

However, Saudi Arabia has recently undergone rapid social and economic changes; these changes have resulted in changes in family relationships. The extended family is less common now and the nuclear family has become more common (Katuib, 2010). Family life has become more complex with sons playing a more important role in making decisions that will affect the whole family, and with the elderly having less influence.

Mishaas, a sixty-five year old divorced Saudi woman, who lived in Rubat B1, commented:

“I have lived in the Rubat for more than 10 years, I was working in the private sector as nurse, but now with my age this is no longer possible and now I spend my time sleeping, watching TV or Figure 4.1 Bar Chart - Distribution of residents by age group

Resubat

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listening to the radio, I have children, sisters and brothers but sad to say they do not have the time to contact me as everyone is busy…."

Malak, a seventy-year-old Yemeni widow, who lives at Rubat C1, however, spoke about living in the Rubat as a more positive choice: “I live in the Rubat after my husband's death, although I have children but it is better to live in the Rubat, it is freer and more comfort for me….”

Fatima, a Saudi widow aged more than 70 years, resided in Rubat A1. She also talked of independence in relation to her housing. “I have lived in the Rubat for less than 20 years; I can get outside the Rubat and I do personal errands by myself….”

Figure 4.2 shows the years of residence for the women living in the Rubats.

As Figure 4.2 shows, 48 respondents (41% of those living in the Rubats) had done so for a period of up to ten years, while 39 % of the women had lived there for 10 to 30 years.

Fieldwork revealed that those who had lived there for more than 10 years were not prepared to move from the Rubats unless they had the opportunity to move to a better one. The Rubat offered them shelter, safety, food aid or donations from philanthropists, and they had no relatives to care for and support them (Al-Harbi.

2012). The longer residents remained in a Rubat, the less the likely they would move, as a respondent, Mkawiyeh, a single woman from Saudi Arabia, who lived in Rubat A1 indicated:

Figure 4.2 Distribution of residents by years of residence

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“I have lived in the Rubat for 20 years. Even though it is not the perfect place, I have now long settled down here. I have established long term friendships and close knit community. So I don't want to move out.

In any case I have nowhere better to go.”

Some women who were long-term residents had inherited their Rubat room from family members, such as a daughter inheriting from a mother. Others were first-generation residents. There are very few new Rubats being built. In fact, some have been demolished, leading to fewer options in the midst of higher demand, which is due to the rising number of divorced women.