JEDDAH -- Manufacturers and traders in women's clothes have told a meeting at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) that forcing them to employ women in women's clothes and accessories shops by July 9 will contribute to raising prices by 30 to 50 percent.
They said they could not implement the decision in less than two months, especially as finding trained women is hard.
They demanded the Ministry of Labor to launch a big awareness campaign that helps to change work attitudes in Saudi families and contribute to providing saleswomen who are willing to work for reasonable salaries.
During a meeting for traders in women's attire held at JCCI on Wednesday, Muhieddin Hakami, assistant secretary general of the JCCI, said the Ministry of Labor would not backtrack on implementing the decision issued by the Council of Ministers.
However, it is striving to find the ideal mechanism that does not harm traders and manufacturers and achieves the state's goals in providing job opportunities for women.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Sultan Al-Shihri, chairman of the textiles committee at the JCCI, said it is important to listen to the problems of shop owners selling clothes, as many of them have not succeeded until now in finding trained women.
He said there is a dearth of female employees, adding that most Saudi women come to work and then leave after a few days because they find jobs in offices and prefer to work there.
They do not like to work as saleswomen due to the long hours and split shifts.
Al-Shihri also called on the Ministry of Labor to intervene by holding awareness campaigns that will help change the work culture among women, as well as improving cooperation with training agencies that can train women willing to take up such jobs.
Many traders say implementing the decision by July 9 will raise their expenses toward workers' salaries. Besides this, splitting the shop area into two sections will increase costs and lead to price hikes of 30 to 50 percent, they said.
© The Saudi Gazette 2013
