Women Now Permitted to Sell at Exhibitions
Suzan Zawawi — The Saudi Gazette

Women are now permitted to sell and rent stalls at international and national exhibitions. And they have already started.

The government announced that women are now allowed to sell merchandise at exhibitions, said Ibrahem Al-Adel, manager of Thawag Exhibition Company. Adel is commissioned to administer the current International Home and Family Exhibition at the Howard and Johnson Hotel in Riyadh. That s why we now have three stalls rented by women.

Due to Saudi Arabia becoming a member of the World Trade Organization last month, businesswomen and businessmen must be treated equally. So we have to allow any woman who applies to set up a stall the opportunity to do so. said Adel.

The first women to sell at the International Home and Family Exhibition in Riyadh are Arab. Saudi women have not yet applied. I think it will take some time until Saudi women rent a stall at the exhibition. Usually Arab and foreign women pave the way first, said Adel. Manal Mustafa, a Sudanese widow and mother of seven, was one of the first women to apply.

This piece, from today’s The Saudi Gazette, reports that Saudi Arabia’s accession to the WTO is already having effects on the way business is done, including business done by women.

The government had hoped to use the leverage that WTO membership provides/requires to help shift social behavior and attitudes. Here, at least, it seems to be working.