Lingerie shops set a deadline

The Ministry of Labor has set the last day of Ramadan corresponding to Aug. 18 as the deadline for lingerie and other women’s accessories shops to be manned totally by Saudi women. Shops that violate the ministry’s regulations after that date will be closed and establishments that do not cooperate with ministry will be listed in the red category of the Nitaqat system, said undersecretary at the Labor Ministry for development Fahd Al-Takhayyufi. The official criticized the efforts of some people to foil the ministry’s efforts to make shops staffed by women only, which in his view is a religious, social, economic and patriotic duty, Al-Watan daily reported Saturday. He called on all sections of society to cooperate with the ministry’s efforts. He said inspections to ensure lingerie shops are staffed by women uncovered a series of violations including employment of foreigners overstaying their visas. He said the objective of implementing the women-only regulation was not only to Saudize the sector but also to set the stage for a safe environment for women to work in the Kingdom. The official also urged people to cooperate with the ministry. He said that accounting jobs in women-only shops were reserved for Saudi women. Al-Takhayyufi said: “The ministry’s female inspectors found several errors when the shop owners implemented the order to make lingerie shops women-only. “For instance, some shops had men accountants while all the sales girls were Saudis. This is a clear violation because the ministry’s order is that each shop should be staffed fully by women including its accounting section.” Another violation detected by the inspectors was that shops selling women’s clothes did not have an independent section for women. The violators are given a grace period until the 18th of this month. If they do not rectify their errors, their shops will be closed. The workers of companies that do not cooperate with the ministry will also be permitted to transfer to another employer. From: Arabnews