It said a recent meeting between officials of the Labor Ministry and a number of investors in women dresses had asked all government departments to fully support the decision to employ women in female shops. The meeting was organized by the trade committee of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The investors asked the Labor Ministry to facilitate the issuance of work visas for expert foreign women to come to the Kingdom to train Saudi women to work in female shops. They said lack of training remained a main obstacle facing Saudi women working in these shops. Businessmen also complained that the women they had employed did not have sufficient experience or training.
The Council of Ministers had asked governors of all regions to facilitate the employment of women in female shops.
The meeting asked private companies and establishments employing women to organize the working hours and to formulate regulations organizing the relationship between women employees and employers. It called for a massive awareness campaign in the media to support the idea of employing women in female shops.
A businessman told the meeting that he had employed about 300 women who had been working as saleswomen and security guards for more than 18 months now, during which he did not face any problems. He said he had started employing women in his establishments in the Western Province, then repeated the experience in the Eastern Province and had lately started in Riyadh.
The issue of work hours and transport took much of the discussions during the meeting. A businesswoman asked for reducing the number of working hours for disabled women employees and said six hours a day was very tiring for them.
The meeting also debated the possible effects of the monthly bonus, to be paid starting from November to unemployed Saudi women, on the chances of women to be employed by the private sector.
