Yesterday evening, Wednesday, the curtain fell on the Chamber of Commerce and Industry elections, which varied in the intensity of businessmen’s attendance and was matched by a moderate turnout of businesswomen. Indeed, there are women who flatly refused the vote on the pretext of being busy, while some explained their objection because they did not know about the three women’s nomination for themselves. Thuraya Al-Jubeir, a businesswoman (a business owner), stated that she voted for the three women with enthusiasm because she wanted them, as businesswomen, to have a voice with the competent authorities to hear their demands and overcome the difficulties they encounter.
Umm Munira Al-Shinaifi, a businesswoman, praised her role on the issue of elections and women''s inclusion, and said about that: I consider it a wonderful step taken by the Chamber of Commerce to hold elections and to make businesswomen a role in it. She added: We do not forget in the Jeddah Chamber, there has become a strong presence of women, and we would like the members to be elected to have an effective role and presence, so the three women voted, and Al-Shenafi demanded new blood from young businesswomen.
The dentist Najwa Jawaherji says, the atmosphere is wonderful and the competition sparked enthusiasm within everyone. She adds that I noticed a businessman presenting himself in a new and beautiful way and constant persistence and felt with him that he would present a new thought to the room in its next session in the event of his election. The jeweler mentioned that she voted alongside the three women, two of Industrialists and three from commerce, but Dr. Najwa expressed her regret at the poor turnout of businesswomen, and their response is weak compared to the intensive preparations by the Chamber, especially the women''s branch, which began a long time ago.
Latifa Al-Khair Allah responded and submitted to vote based on the messages she received on the mobile.
Strangely enough, Latifa mentioned that she clicked on the names she received without knowing anything about the activity of the business man and woman who voted for them.
And about what you see from the new members as a businesswoman, she said: We would like them to seek to facilitate their access to loans as women as well as buy cars in installments because they are not able to do so because their activity is commercial.
On the other hand, representatives of a number of businessmen were present in the branch, and Nada Turkmani, director of the women''s department at the Khaled Al-Shubaily group, said that they had already started preparing for the campaign only two weeks ago and explained the reason for the delay that businessman Khaled was deliberately studying the matter as well that he was a supporter of women and was interested in including them for his conglomerate In order not to be blamed by businessmen, he preferred to have an independent conglomerate.
Manal, the delegate of businessman Essam Al-Bakr, who blamed businesswomen who came to vote and whose official papers were not complete, such as not renewing the membership or bringing the commercial register, and Manal added: I know that the women''s branch has emphasized a lot on that, but I don’t know how to describe this matter from them. Is it no Carelessness or lack of understanding of the importance of the matter.
Regarding the negatives that Manal touched, she pointed to the randomness and irregularity of some blocs or the unnatural exaggeration in the way to attract voters.
Lamia Al-Khaled, the delegate of the candidate Hoda Al-Jeraisy, said: The organization was very impressive, and the businesswomen who nominated themselves or others I consider have played a wonderful role, and the women''s branch made a tremendous effort to make the campaign a success. Lamia adds: But there is one thing that I hope we will not see in the coming sessions, which is the apathy that we have seen from some businesswomen. Either they did not take the matter seriously or it is still new to them and they did not understand it.
During this session of the elections, it was noticed that more business representatives than businesswomen themselves attended to vote, indicating their low turnout to vote, and there was an emphasis by the women''s branch during the voting process not to leave the woman from the same door from which she entered to ensure calm during the completion The process was also not allowed to speak to one of the supervisors of the committees and observers to ensure the integrity of the process.
All are unanimously agreed on the success of organizing the women''s branch in all its aspects, even though it is the first for the women''s branch in Riyadh.
The director of the branch and her assistant, Nouf Al-Jarallah, who was in constant contact with the media women throughout the months of preparation for the elections, along with the rest of the branch employees, had the credit for the successful completion of the process without any error or inconvenience.
