A top Labor Ministry official says the third phase of feminizing women-only shops will include maternity and jalabiya (long gown worn by women) shops, which will be implemented in the next six months.

Fahad Al-Tukhaifi said that a time frame, a plan and a draft decision had been prepared in this regard with the employers. The decision involves setting out a time frame for the shops that are to have female employees in addition to making the work environment suitable for women.

Violators of the decision will be punished and special attention given to improving the work environment, which is proving to be one of the biggest challenges facing women in these shops, he added.

Conditions laid out for feminizing the shops include the stipulation that women in these shops have to be Saudi citizens, the provision of a space to pray and rest, working hours to last from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., and the availability of Saudi female supervisors on the job.

“Statistics have confirmed that 13,000 shops are covered under the feminization policy and that 65,000 Saudi women were employed in the first and second phases of the feminization of shops,” said Al-Tukhaifi.

He explained that the project, which was launched three years ago, has impacted social, economic and cultural change in society.

“The decisions regarding women’s work are only specific to women-only shops. However, some conditions still have to be met to employ women in factories and firms although Saudi women have already entered the dairy and poultry plants,” Al-Tukhaifi added.

The employment of Saudi women does not require extra procedures such as obtaining a license and filing a recruitment application. “They will, however, need to apply to the Human Resources Development Fund and other agencies and programs, which support the salaries of Saudi employees,” Al-Tukhaifi explained.

He added that the number of Saudi women employees will double in the third phase.

“There are more than 200 malls across the Kingdom. Each one of these malls has shops for women that definitely require feminization,” he pointed out.

The third phase of the feminization of shops involves counting all women-only shops at malls and along the streets, their licensing types, the number of workers, the nature of work, databases to plan the marketplace and the time frame within which to feminize each individual shop.

A thorough and comprehensive evaluation will be made to know the exact challenges facing the process in terms of the training needed, the qualifications available, the regulations, the transportation means available, the work environment and the nurseries offered for women with children.

“All these elements, as well as defining the working hours, will be included in an extensive study and evaluation to tackle the emerging challenges which, when overcome, will increase the number of women working in these shops,” he added.

He said the official orders limited the work of women to women’s shops and imposed strict punishments on employers if they were found to employ non-Saudi women.

The punishments include closing the shop and banning the employer from recruiting foreign workers for three successive years, he said, asserting that the project especially targets employment for Saudi women.