Saudi Arabia News (March 18, 2012)

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1) Grand Mufti Wants all Churches in Arabian Peninsula Destroyed: http://www.theatlant...istians/254650/

2) Six-year jail, 600 lashes for sorcery and fraud

The Riyadh General Court sentenced an Arab expatriate to six years in jail coupled with 600 lashes for sorcery and fraud, the Riyadh police announced yesterday.The criminal, who is in his mid-40s, confessed to have swindled SR550,000 from a Saudi woman by promising her a magical cure. According to police, the man promised the plaintiff he would help her hair grow by treating her with a herbal therapy. Initially, the man had allegedly taken SR20,000 and asked the woman to pay the balance in installments.On the payment of the first installment, the man had given the victim some herbs wrapped in a piece of white cloth and had told her to store it carefully to help her hair growth. According to the complaint, the criminal's magical treatment had not stopped her hair falling out. When police arrested him, the man had in his possession a ring, a black gemstone which he claimed had magical power and a hand-written paper that had a list of magic ingredients.The police warned the public of such criminals who try to con them out of their money in this way. They also advised the people to notify security authorities as soon as they suspect strangers who walk into their daily life with claims to magically improve their lives.

3) Training saleswomen becomes a pressing need

JEDDAH: The obligation to employ Saudi saleswomen in lingerie shops was put into action last Thursday. This moment has been delayed for eight years, and the issue has been a hotly debated in society. Arab News looks back to see how far society has come.

The debate about the decision to replace salesmen with women has seen its share of fierce contenders. Reem Asaad, a member of the Saudi Economic Society, set out to boycott all lingerie shops without women assistants. Fatima Qaroob founded the "Enough Embarrassment" campaign, urging lingerie shops to employ saleswomen.

There were also many skeptics, who believed the new rule might result in violating Shariah rules. Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh said on Dec. 30: "Employing women in lingerie shops, leaving them to face men and sell shamelessly, will result in more catastrophes than traders and owners of shops should handle."

The debate resulted in a legal complaint logged by a businessman against Labor Minister Adel Fakeih in an attempt to stop the decision. However, the minister announced this would not delay implementing the decision.

First attempts

Over the last seven years some companies tried to hire women for sales departments and as customer services employees. These attempts usually failed. Businesses ended up sending the women back home for their lack of work ethics, said a supervisor of a major lingerie brand in the Kingdom, who was unwilling to reveal his name. "Three years ago we tried hiring women for our ladies' branch in Riyadh. The women lacked experience and would not be punctual because of transportation problems. They were also demanding when it came to days off, because of family duties," he said. These factors forced the company to close their ladies' branch. With the new compulsory regulation in effect, the company has forcefully hired women cashiers for all their branches in the Kingdom.

Sarah bin Sahel is the manager of the women's section at Naomi stores for lingerie, a brand with a long history when it comes to hiring women. She said recognition from the ministry was a plus for them. "The members of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice leave us in peace. Also, we can now rent premises at malls. Previously the administrations of malls would make renting difficult for us, fearing our shop might cause trouble. The decision has protected our rights to sell at mall shops."

Frontrunner

Some areas in the Kingdom will take more time to implement the new rule due to social restrictions that make it hard for women to be available as saleswomen at public places. "Jeddah has been a frontrunner in employing women, followed by the Eastern Province and Riyadh. We have also seen shops employing women in Makkah, Madinah and other cities," said Mohammad Al-Shehri, head of the Textile and Readymade Garments Committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI). Other cities employing women include Taif, Hail, Qatif and Abha.

Patience

"Saleswomen lack not only in training and experience. They are also unfamiliar with the market culture," Al-Shehri continued. "Business owners should be patient with them until the women get used to the market and the work, just like we have been always patient with expatriates who are unable to speak the language and lack experience." There is a need to train and bring more qualified women workers into the market to satisfy the demand, he said.

Bypassing

In an attempt to bypass the obligation to recruit women, some business owners have added different products to their shops. These include cosmetic products, perfumes and other products that women use exclusively.

While the process of employing women in lingerie shops at malls is going smoothly, it is halted in public markets. "60 percent of the kiosks in public markets are illegal," said Al-Shihri, "These kiosks are hard to feminize, but we'll monitor them and complain to the proper authorities."

Training

Fahad Al-Tukhaifi, assistant undersecretary for the development department at the Ministry of Labor, said the women receive a different training nowadays. They are taught on the job, while they work. Others receive training at the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC).

An official there said TVTC had trained 100 women to become saleswomen, accountants, and supervisors. The training lasts for two to three weeks and includes familiarizing the women with the cashier machines, teaching them basic English and other necessary skills to properly deal with customers. The TVTC received up to 30 thousand applications from women hoping to work at lingerie shops.

Pick and choose

Now that saleswomen are compulsory at lingerie shops, women can pick and choose between different job offers. JCCI's Mohammad Al-Shehri said business owners had complained that their saleswomen were taken over by other businesses offering better salaries. The average salary ranges between SR3,500 and SR5,000, half of which is paid by the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF). The companies hiring are also to offer medical insurance. "We were told the women would up and leave as soon as they could get a better offer elsewhere," said Al-Shehri. "More women are needed in the job market now."

Purposes served

Fatima Qaroob, the initiator of the campaign 'Enough Embarrassment' said Saudi society expressed a major support to the decision. "Two purposes have been served. The embarrassment was lifted and Saudi women now have a better chance at being employed," she said.

The public markets have 30 percent of the lingerie shops in the Kingdom, said Qaroob. "We could allocate a specific location at the public market to sell these products. The location can be enclosed and specified for women only."

Expatriates

When 44 thousands women are now being hired as saleswomen, cashiers, and customer service employees, the men who were previously employed as such may lose their jobs. Fahad Al-Tukhaifi said the development department had not yet received any complaints from Saudi men. "They will be transferred to administrative jobs in their companies," he said.

Abdullah Dahlan, an economist and a member of the Shoura Council, said that 80 percent of the men working in lingerie shops are expatriates. "Neither the government nor the private sector are obliged to provide jobs for these expatriates," he said. Even though these expatriates have helped to develop the Kingdom, it is now time for them to go back to their home countries and contribute to developing them, he added. "We want to make clear that we don't target any particular nationality. We only hope to reduce unemployment among Saudi women," said Dahlan.

Make-up shops next

From May onwards, make-up shops will be monitored and asked to replace their male cashiers and customer service employees with Saudi women. The Ministry of Labor has already announced no delay will be accepted. A large make-up shop has offered 500 job opportunities for Saudi women with salaries that can go as high as SR4,000. However, make-up shops will find the changes less demanding as they already sell cosmetics, which excludes them from completely feminizing their shops.

Abdullah Dahlan predicted the decision would lead to the employment of more women in other open sectors. "It could lead to including women in commercial centers, medical insurance, travel agencies, hotels and other services."

Fahad Al-Tukhaifi said women could already sell abayas, accessories and clothes in different centers, based on specific requirements. When all women related shops would be feminized, a total of 500 thousand women are expected to enter the labor market.

Observers

The Ministry of Labor worked together with the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice to document and deal with complaints from saleswomen.

The ministry assigned 400 observers to visit shops, indicate violators and specify punishments for shops that have failed to recruit Saudi women. These include banning businesses from getting services from the ministry, banning them from obtaining work visa for new employees, or transferring iqamas.

Lingerie shops should recruit only Saudi women when non-Saudi men are employed. These men would be transferred to the passport department and the owner of the shop would be fined. If non-Saudi women are found, they might face deportation to their home countries. Non-Saudi women are not given visa to work as saleswomen.

4) ***Their masters, I mean teachers, must be so proud!***

Women graduates' achievements highlighted

RIYADH: On behalf of Princess Hessa bint Turad Al-Shaalan, wife of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, Princess Sarah bint Abdullah patronized the first exhibition conducted by the graduates of the higher technical institutes for girls in the Kingdom.

Nearly 300 prominent women, including academics, businesswomen, and relatives of women graduates attended the function, Al-Eqtisadiah business daily reported.

Speaking on the occasion, Princess Sarah lauded the tremendous achievements being made by Saudi women in different spheres of life. "Achievements of Saudi women technical graduates are amazing. They are gaining high success and recording excellent performance results," she said while noting that Saudi women have been instrumental in bringing about far-reaching changes in the typical outlook, which had prevailed for decades in society, toward them.

Princess Sarah rejected the notion that Saudi women are unqualified and unfit to take up challenging careers in the Kingdom's employment market. "At every gathering and fair where Saudi women's products and innovations were on display, I have witnessed their marvelous designs as well as their contributions to different fields that enabled them to reach leading positions at local and international levels," she said.

Princess Sarah urged the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) to set up a permanent market to showcase innovative products of Saudi women and graduates of technical institutes in order to make it a marketing outlet for their innovative projects and products.

In a gesture to motivate the graduates, the princess wore an abaya designed by the graduates and presented to her as a gift.

Addressing the gathering, Muneera bint Suleiman Al-Aloula, deputy governor for girls training at TVTC, said that more than SR2 billion was earmarked for implementing infrastructure projects of new technical institutes for girls in various regions as well as for enabling them to take up jobs and create job opportunities in both public and private sectors. Al-Aloula also unveiled plans to open three technical institutes in Dawadmi, Hafar Al-Batin and Abu Arish. She noted that there has been tremendous response and enthusiasm from Saudi women prisoners to join training courses conducted by TVTC.

Some 288 women prisoners are currently attending courses of various higher technical institutes.

The exhibition showcased several innovative programs and products made by Saudi women graduates of technical institutes.

The graduates displayed computer programs developed by them as well as their proficiency in computer maintenance and repair works.

More than 30 girl students from Riyadh Technical Institute made the largest nationwide display of various designs of dresses, as well as designs from various countries such as India, China and Scotland. Their products also included special garments for kids, uniforms for cadets as well as sportswear, wedding dresses and the like.

Edited March 18, 2012 by ☠

[Darnell 8,479]

omg - expats have to be expelled, get back to their home countries to sell lingerie there?? WOW !

[luckytxn 2,265]

Saudi Arabia is nuts. Lucky they have a lot of oil and the U.S. backing them.