There is a ray of hope for the thousands of Saudi women willing to enter the labor market especially the lingerie sector. The jobs in this sector were opened for Saudi women in 2007, but for one reason or another, the decision was never implemented. Pressure from the religious establishment and certain reservations in some families were primarily responsible for the delay in implementation. In an interview, Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, Minster of Labor, said that even though the process was slow, “it eventually would be accomplished.” “Sometimes decision-makers feel that some factors must be taken into consideration; thus postponing a decision is lot better than scrapping the plan altogether,” he said. In an earlier interview with Saudi Gazette, Qusay Falaly, Director General of the Labor Office in Jeddah, said that the ministry was working to have as many women as possible in the labor market. Saudi women, who would rather work in jobs as saleswomen in lingerie shops than remain jobless, were optimistic that the situation would change one day. “Dr. Al-Gosaibi has said that the process of hiring Saudi women for lingerie shops is still going on despite all the difficulties during the past two years,” said Lana Al Amri, 25, university graduate. “Since we graduated from the university, we have never had a real chance to work, and we are hoping for a change one day,” she said. The labor market in Saudi Arabia is not a wide open field; there are several restrictions such as laws preventing women from mixing with men other than relatives. According to Azza Abubakur, sociologist from King Abdul Aziz University, every society has both positive and negative opinions toward any issue. “But now we are becoming a more open society. We need to be educated and treated in a different way,” she said. “Women are clearly more aware of the needs of other women. That is why it is always preferable to have women working in these shops,” said Raghda Sameer, a housewife in Jeddah. Statistics show that there are around 49 shopping malls and centers in Jeddah with around 247 shops selling women's wear, 38 percent of the shops are for lingerie with only 15 percent of the sales personnel being women out of an estimated 879 employees. Meanwhile, the labor ministry has organized a workshop on the recruitment of Saudis. Dr. Mufrij Al-Haqbani, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Labor for planning and development, briefed the participants on the recruitment strategy prepared by the ministry and underlined the importance of recruitment of Saudis in the private sector. He also shed light on the problems facing the labor market, and said these problems require integrated solutions and not partial ones. He noted that the strategy focused on making enough job opportunities available as well as the development of the national workforce and the human resources in addition to the promotion of the productivity.
