Jeddah - There are shops and stores in the Kingdom that have beaten the Labor Ministry's deadline for employing Saudi women. Saudi women have already been working in them for several years.
Woman's Kingdom, an all-women's floor in the Kingdom Center in Riyadh, is an illustration of women's abilities to manage and staff shops and store. The floor includes coffee shops, women's wear shops, and children's shops. In such a place, a woman can roam freely and at leisure - and has been able to do so for four years.
"A women's only shopping center? I was impressed when I visited it," said Helen Nabil on a trip to Woman's Kingdom. "The idea of men selling women's clothing especially lingerie was weird to me. This is more natural - women in women's department stores."
While it was being built, a number of Saudi women with different qualifications applied for jobs at Woman's Kingdom. Those who were accepted underwent lengthy multi-phased levels of training, months prior to the official opening.
The training included making commercial transaction, the sales methodology followed by international companies as well as client-service training. Special attention was given to those accepted for the jobs since it was a new field for Saudi women. The women accepted for jobs by the various businesses renting shops in Woman's Kingdom were trained by the companies themselves in accordance with international standards followed throughout the world.
On the other hand, in Jeddah some of the shops where Saudi saleswomen work admit men with their families. However, the number of such stores is limited and is restricted to those selling cosmetics and lingerie. Establishing women's branches was not an easy task. "It took me six months to find 20 girls whose families would agree to them working in family sections," said Khaled Al-Sagaf, the human resource manager of a cosmetic company.
Though the ministerial decision will open the door for many unemployed girls, not everyone will tolerate working hours that include two shifts with one lasting until 11 p.m. And Al-Sagaf added, "What about Ramadan when work ends at 3 a.m.?"
"The main problem we are going to face will be finding girls in conservative towns such as Onaiza and Buraidah, who are not ashamed to work as saleswomen," added Samer Al-Naji, a human resources employee who works for a company with many department stores selling women's products. According to him, the company that operates the well-known Body Shop stores had endless problems when hiring Saudi men in their branches outside Jeddah. "In our branches in Riyadh, lots of Saudi men quit the job after a short period because of embarrassment, as the concept of Saudi salespersons is not accepted by society yet, let alone women!" he added.
A number of Saudi saleswomen working in stores admitted that they had never faced any inconvenience, either from male or female customers.
"The store opened a year ago," said a Saudi female store supervisor, Ibtihal Al-Mansoury. "And it has created a good reputation among customers who warmly accepted and welcomed women selling cosmetics to them. Many of them come to this branch just to be serviced by our saleswomen." Women working in these stores undergo special training courses that run from 45 days to four months. The courses are not limited to selling tactics but include customer service skills as well.
"My experience as a saleswomen has been a positive one, said Enaam Abbas. "We have from 200 to 250 customers per month," she added.
By Ebtihal Mubarak & Somayya Jabarti
© Arab News 2005
