The Arabic daily Al-Eqtisadiah reported that the ministry has set Jan. 4 as the deadline to implement its directive to replace salesmen with women employees at these shops.

Fahd Al-Tukhaifi, assistant undersecretary for development at the ministry, said the ministry would announce within a few days the number of shops selling lingerie and women accessories.

“The ministry does not have comprehensive statistical data about the classification of commercial shops, because commercial registration with the Ministry of Commerce does not require providing specific details about the products sold or creation of separate sections for salesmen and women.

“Therefore, the Labor Ministry had to do this before implementing the directive,” the official said.

The ministry had given a six-month grace period to replace salesmen with Saudi women at lingerie and women accessory shops across the Kingdom. Cosmetic shops and shops that sell both lingerie and cosmetics were given one year, until July 1, 2012, to hire saleswomen.     

Al-Tukhaifi said the ministry had appointed 60 inspectors to count lingerie and women accessories shops across the Kingdom.

“The inspectors have detected some violations on the part of these shops. Some operate under licenses for other commercial activities, such as laundries and barber shops,” he said, adding that punitive actions would be taken against such violators.