Saudi women asked nicely to be able to sell women’s lingerie, Arab News reports. That didn’t work as shop owners ignored them. So the women going to act more aggressively by boycotting lingerie shops that refuse their demand to hire women. Interestingly, the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry is backing the women on this issue. Good for the Chamber and good for the women!
Women’s campaign for right to sell lingerie fails
Najah Alosaimi | Arab NewsRIYADH: A campaign by Saudi women to win the right to sell lingerie has resulted in shop owners not taking notice and thus forcing women to begin a boycott later this month.
“We sent letters to leading lingerie shop owners stating the importance of complying with the Labor Ministry’s guidelines to employ saleswomen, along with the signatures we collected online over the last four months … But we haven’t received any response,” said Reem Asaad, head of the campaign “Ban Men from Selling Lingerie.”
The Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) gave organizers of the campaign the green light to put pressure on shops to hire women.
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January:22:2009 - 15:21
I will never buy lingerie here as long as there are men only employees. I purchase what I need in the states and bring it back with me. I would go bra-less before I would let a man help me!!!
January:22:2009 - 15:29
You know what is such hypocrisy Susie of Arabia is that Islam encourages something called “Haya” or “shyness”. It seems like you have more Haya than the majority of Saudi Arabia who insist on having men sell lingerie. These men are creepy.
I imagine they get off on selling lingerie…that is if they don’t enjoy parading themselves in it in the privacy of their places of residence. If none of the above, an attempt to get women’s numbers seems probable. If none of that, then maybe suicidal thoughts for lack of manliness and being stuck at such a sucky job.
January:22:2009 - 16:59
[...] refuse their demand to hire women – an initiative backed by the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Posted by Ayesha Saldanha Print version Share [...]
January:22:2009 - 18:16
I don’t actually blame the salesmen. They are almost always from the third world and grateful to get any job that pays a regular salary. If their bosses told them to sell animal fodder, they’d sell animal fodder.
Sure, there can be some creeps among them. And double-sure, it is awkward for most women to buy intimate apparel from them. That’s not a reason to condemn them as a class, though. The fact that there is great unemployment among Saudi women and that Saudi women want to sell lingerie, however, is sufficient to start moving the men out of those jobs.
January:22:2009 - 22:03
“The fact that there is great unemployment among Saudi women and that Saudi women want to sell lingerie, however, is sufficient to start moving the men out of those jobs”
Yes, I agree. Sometimes the drama is needed though LOL
January:24:2009 - 02:43
As a Saudi man.. I really don’t have any idea why are men in lingerie shops selling them to women.. I am baffled.
It appears to me that the problem is not with what type of shop though.. I remember before a business man started a restaurant with female cooks. It got locked up!
January:24:2009 - 08:01
I agree… the whole idea is so strange, on so many levels, that it’s simply amazing that it even exists in the KSA!
And yes, there certainly are Saudis who believe that a woman’s place is not in business, wherever else it might be.