Oddly enough, Saudi Arabia has not provided changing room for female clothing shoppers. Because women’s security and privacy could not be guaranteed, they were not made available. Given, too, that most clothing shops, even for intimate apparel, were operated by men, this sort of made sense. It certainly created job opportunities for seamstresses to make alterations of clothing in women’s homes.

Now, there’s a proposal that the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice hire women to serve as guards in newly-built fitting rooms. They would assure the privacy of women trying on goods, make sure there are no hidden cameras, and likely act to make sure no unbought clothing wanders away. It, too, provides more jobs for women. Since a basic premise of Saudi society seems to be that people are not to be trusted except under the eye of guardians of various types, I suppose this is a good solution. Saudi Gazette reports…

Hai’a to employ women to oversee ladies’ fitting rooms

AL-KHOBAR – The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Hai’a) will soon employ female supervisors to oversee female fitting rooms which will be set up in the country’s malls, Al-Yaum reported on Saturday.

Informed sources told the newspaper that the Hai’a will soon issue a decision to this effect.

The task of the Hai’a female supervisors will be to ensure that no Shariah violations are committed. This comes in the wake of calls for the Hai’a to replace male supervisors with female ones. Many citizens also want the Hai’a to create jobs for female citizens.
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