Saudi Arabia Closes 100 Lingerie Shops For Employing Male Employees

The Saudi Arabian government has issued an order to close about 100 women in the capital of Riyadh.

The reason is that these stores violate the rules and employ male salesmen.

Local media quoted the Ministry of labor officials as saying that the move was aimed at "providing a safe working environment for women in the workplace". He pointed out that all stores that violated the government's provisions on "feminization and nationalization" should be closed.

According to the Saudi Ministry of labour, the country's cosmetics sales sector will only employ female salesmen.

As the first step towards this idea, the Ministry of labour issued an order earlier this year to ban women's underwear shops from hiring male salesmen.

In Saudi Arabia, the unemployment rate for women is about 30%.

In order to change this situation, Saudi King Abdullah issued a decree in June 2011 that Saudi Arabia's underwear shop can only employ female salesmen.

However, this decree was criticized by senior religious leaders.

NAYOMI, a lingerie maker of more than 100 shops in Saudi Arabia, began using female salesmen in the west city of Jeddah in 2010 and allowed couples to go shopping together.

The sales management Minister of the company said: "this has been praised by women, but it has also been criticized by many people.

It may take some time for conservative Riyadh to accept such a move. "

In Saudi Arabia, which strictly adheres to the Islamic rule, women are prohibited from engaging in the service industry in order to avoid contact with men.

Women's underwear shop clerks are almost all male, which makes women customers very embarrassed, and people often buy wrong underwear.

In protest, Saudi women called for a boycott of underwear in 2010.

In August this year, the Saudi Industrial Development Council announced that it would build the world's first "daughter country" to promote women's employment.

If completed, it will become the world's first single sex city.

Rachid, executive chairman of the Saudi Industrial Development Bureau, said that the Ministry of urban and rural affairs has allocated land for construction. The initial location is located in eastern city of Hu Fufu. The plan has been launched and will start in 2013.

The city will be

The pharmaceutical industry and the food processing industry are the main industries.

He believes that women can perform well in many industrial positions, and in their "daughter country", their worries and constraints are less.

The Hu Fufu municipal government hopes to invest $133 million and create 5000 jobs.

In the next few years, the Saudi government will also build several such women's industrial cities.