The Ministry of Labor has rejected calls from shops selling women's dresses and abayas to delay the second phase of the country's feminization process and said it will penalize those not complying after the July 1 deadline.

Fahd Al-Tukhaifi, assistant deputy minister of labor for development, said the ministry will start implementing phase two as planned and will ensure that the law is implemented in the SR 2 billion a year sector.

Many shop owners say they are not ready and want a postponement. They claim that Saudi women are not comfortable working in low-end markets. In addition, they say that many women workers are not sticking to prescribed working hours.

"The very rapid process will adversely affect shop owners. We just need more time to adapt to the new regulations. We are still suffering from the irresponsible behavior of some girls who do not keep regular hours, and this has caused us losses," said Yusuf Al-Salamah, a shop owner.

Another shop owner, Atif Al-Sayyid, claimed Saudi women do not have a proper work ethic because they were prevented from working for so long. Many stay away from work, citing various excuses, which results in the management of their shopping malls issuing fines for sudden shop closures, he said. "We sometimes had to close the shop for two days because all the women did not turn up," he said. Muhammad Al-Shahri of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry said officials of a number of government agencies would meet with the owners of such shops to establish a mechanism for the implementation of the second phase as the deadline approaches.

"We expect the second phase to be tougher than the first, in view of the large size of the sector and the paucity of female workers willing to work in these shops," he said.