It is inevitable that as Saudi women gain wide acceptance in the business community that abuses, particularly in small- and medium-size commercial enterprises, will occur.

This points to two issues: That female entrepreneurs are constrained by outdated, if not nonsensical, labor rules and regulations that do not specifically address female-owned businesses. And rather than work with the Ministry of Labor to develop guidelines that fit their specific needs, Saudi female employers are taking shortcuts to get the job done. As often the case when a society experiences dramatic shift involving a large segment of population — in this case women entering the workforce — government regulations have not caught up with these changes.

A recent report in Arab News points specifically to this issue in which some Saudi female employers are violating Labor Ministry laws by employing their domestic housemaids in their business. This is wrong on so many levels. They require housemaids to work long, arduous hours in both the home and at their employers’ business, which is no less than exploitation. I’m guessing that these maids are not paid overtime for their contributions.

Saudi employers complain that it’s difficult to obtain visas for workers, particularly in restaurants and bakeries, which are growing segments of Saudi female-owned businesses. The costs of visas are high and many expatriate workers with food preparation expertise are demanding up to SR1,500 per month, if not more. This is not an appropriate excuse for exploiting domestic workers. There are plenty of training programs for Saudi women to learn the retail food trade. And as we have learned over the past few years, many low- and medium-income Saudi women are eager to learn a skill.

Female business owners are aware of these training programs, and with a little effort they can find and train Saudi women to become employees in their establishment. Yet employers have a profit margin to maintain and its more expedient and cheaper to use domestic help to get the job done.

But the responsibility doesn’t entirely fall on the shoulders of businesswomen. For more than a decade since Saudi women have been establishing their own businesses, female entrepreneurs have repeatedly complained that the Labor Ministry’s regulations are too generic; their one-rulebook-fits-all approach to business ownership and compliances does not work for all employers.

Rules and regulations governing a retail furniture store do not necessarily fit with a family-owned restaurant or bakery. The requirements for visas issued for male expatriate workers in an auto repair shop will not work for a bakery that needs three female workers with an expertise in preparing French pastries. Accommodations and schedules in a food service establishment, such as restrooms, prayer areas, breaks and working hours, are not the same as required in an all-male work environment at a bookstore or market.

Many Saudi businesswomen have managed to overcome these obstacles and opened their establishments. It’s certain their profit margins have suffered because of the inflexibility of the ministry’s regulations, but at the same time these same employers are working with Labor officials to iron out these issues. Eventually, the Labor Ministry will catch up with the rapid growth of female-owned businesses.

In the meantime, those Saudi female business owners who are cheating — and that is exactly what they are doing — should learn from their sisters in other fields to work with the ministry instead of abusing the rights of their domestic workers. In the long run, their business will be more stable and financially healthy. If employers continue to cut corners, their client base and the Labor Ministry base will catch on and they could very well lose everything that they have worked for.