JEDDAH: The Labor Ministry is studying proposals to stop the recruitment of foreign tailors to create more job opportunities for Saudi women in the field. The ministry also believes such a move will encourage Saudi women to invest in the sector.
“We are studying the possibility of halting the issuance of visas for tailors,” Hattab Al-Hattab, a ministry spokesman, told Al-Watan Arabic newspaper.
Wafa Al-Hajari of Bab Rizq Jameel, who is an expert on small-scale projects, said an increasing number of Saudi women are now interested in tailoring.
There are many reasons for this. A Saudi woman investor prefers to deal with women workers and the Human Resources Fund provides up to SR1,500 to the shopowner toward the salary of the Saudi tailor.
Fatima BaAbdullah, principal of the Higher Technical Institute for Girls, said Saudi women had proved their expertise in the tailoring field, adding that it was a profession that suited their nature. She urged the chambers of commerce and industry to fix a Saudization percentage for the sector. The work contract should mention the salary, she said, adding that trained tailors should be given a good salary with benefits.
“Graduates of higher technical institutes should be given priority in tailoring jobs and it should not be the monopoly of expatriate workers,” BaAbdullah said. She also referred to the problems caused by men tailors who make women’s clothes.
Giving priority to Saudi nationals should not be considered racist, she said. “Citizens have the right to priority in employment,” BaAbdullah said, adding that graduates of her institute had found it difficult to compete with expatriates to get jobs.
The Labor Ministry has so far issued about 25,000 visas for tailors over the last three years.
At present there are about 75,000 workers in the sector with an average monthly salary of SR1,000, making an annual total of SR75 million.
“If this amount were pumped into Saudi families, it would have great impact on them,” said the newspaper.
As many as 3,600 girls graduate from the Higher Technical Institute every year. There are more than 10,800 tailoring shops in the country. Most of them are managed by men.
Aisha Al-Shahri and Suha Ibrahim, who are graduates of the institute, complained that the market was saturated with expatriate workers and they found it extremely difficult to get a job.
