Manama: Labour authorities in the western Saudi city of Jeddah have shut down 20 lingerie shops for not employing local women.
“They failed to comply with the rules and regulations regarding the employment of Saudi women,” Abdul Monam Al Shihri, the head of the labour ministry office in Makkah, said.
“We will not hesitate to take the appropriate action against any shop that does not respect the regulations that aim to enable Saudi women to feel at ease as they are shopping,” he said in remarks quoted by local news site Sabq on Wednesday.
With rising Saudi unemployment figures, the labour ministry has launched ambitious programmes to reduce reliance on foreigners and boost the employment of local graduates and women.
Plans drawn up by the ministry to address economic and social issues included motivating women to take up jobs in shops and supermarkets, a move that was staunchly resisted by conservatives who saw it as “a way to undermine local traditions and corrupt the Saudi society.”
However, the ministry insisted on carrying out its multi-phased plans despite insults to labour ministry officials, and the sight of Saudi women cashiers in supermarkets and in lingerie shops has now become familiar, mainly in large cities.
Women garment shops that did not replace some of their foreign employees with Saudi women have faced measures that included being shut for a specific number of days and threats of greater action against them.
On August 7, the labour office in the Eastern cities of Dammam and Khobar shut down nine shops in a mall in Dhahran for not complying with the regulations to employ only women in lingerie shops. Several men were detained for working in the shops.
About one third of the total population in Saudi Arabia, estimated at 27 million, are foreigners — mainly unskilled people working in the construction and service sectors.
