A group of female employees working at commercial retail centers are requesting that they be provided with rest areas during their breaks to avoid being exposed to strangers while in public.
Employers have expressed the difficulty of accommodating these requests due to the size of the mall where the shops are located and because the quick introduction of women into the work force has caught shop owners off guard.
Mohammed Alawi, the executive director of Red Sea Mall, said commercial centers are equipped and prepared to receive female employees because the centers are developed to accommodate men and women alike.
However, allocation of rest places for employees depends on the size of the mall, the number of shops and the number of employees, he said.
The lack of other necessities has resulted in the need for these rest areas, he said. For instance, the lack of transportation for women has kept many women at commercial centers until later shifts, and some employees have had no choice but to sleep in prayer rooms or changing rooms. Such circumstances have caused friction between the women, particularly as these places are not intended as places of rest or sleep.
Alawi stressed the role of municipalities in providing these rest spaces by listing them as a condition in work plans used during the construction process. The entrance of female employers to the retail sector has helped female employees a great deal. “It is important not to forget to provide them with rest spaces, prayer room, and toilets, especially for employees of open commercial centers and shops located on public streets,” Alawi said.
Nora Al-Rimi, an employee at a cosmetic shop, says that employees “are often forced to sit in bathrooms or changing rooms due to the lack of special places for employees to take a break.”
The nature of the business requires employees to be presentable, which requires a need for female employees to have dedicated places of rest, she added.
Another employee at a neighboring shop agrees, confirming that the failure to provide rest rooms leads many female employees to sit in other areas of the mall between shifts, such as prayer rooms and restaurants. This is especially difficult for women to find a driver to transport them to each shift at a reasonable price.
As a result, women have been offended and disturbed by the scrutiny from employees of other surrounding offices visiting these centers, who question their ability to work without the basic necessities and privileges.
Ministry of Labor spokesman Hattab Al-Anazi said these regulatory issues are the responsibility of the management of the commercial centers and the owners of the shops. The ministry cannot force them to implement regulatory measures. That said, the ministry emphasizes the necessity of offering rest spaces for female employees in order to guarantee a suitable working environment for them, he added.
Meanwhile, Sultan Almajrashi, a shop owner, said the possibility of providing rest spaces for employees depends on the extent of cooperation of the center’s administration and management, which does not allow any changes to the design of the center to create specialized work spaces for female employees.
A common lounge where employees can take a break is a principle that should be economically considered and is a practical step, he said, and women should solve this problem by directly communicating their requests to their immediate supervisors.
While there are some social fears about creating closed spaces, there is greater dissatisfaction with the appearance of female employees taking breaks in prayer rooms, walking around in the center, or from the spreading of news that some spend breaks in the toilets and changing rooms.
Women workers demand dedicated spaces for breaks
