The Ministry of Labor will take more organizational and legislative initiatives aimed at providing additional work opportunities to Saudi women, local Arabic daily Al-Jazeera reported recently, quoting the ministry’s assistant undersecretary for development Fahd Al-Tikhaifi.

“There will also be other initiatives related to women’s employment including centers to take care of children, transport and awareness programs,” Al-Tikhaifi said.

He explained that each initiative would be announced separately when all arrangements for their launching were completed.

“The recent initiatives and programs by the ministry have opened the doors wider for the employment of Saudi women according to the parameters of a safe work environment,” he added.

Al-Tikhaifi said the program consisted of completing the first phase, which was feminizing the lingerie shops. These same arrangements were followed for shops selling women’s garments, abayas, wedding dresses, accessories and make up.

The undersecretary said the ministry issued a second phase which organized the work of women as accountants in retail shops, and the third covered regularizing their work in public parks. “The fourth dealt with the work of women in kitchens preparing popular food, fast-food restaurants and pastries,” he added.

Al-Tikhaifi pointed out that the Ministry of Municipal & Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce are partners with the Labor Ministry in its project to feminize women’s shops.
“Some mistakes were made during the implementation of the program. This is only natural. We will correct the mistakes and avoid them in the future,” Al-Tikhaifi said.

According to Al-Tikhaifi, the mistakes included employment of salesmen in lingerie shops and the presence of men as cashiers in accessories and make-up shops. “We are not only making efforts to provide Saudi women with working opportunities, but we also endeavor to ensure them with the most suitable and appropriate work environment,” he said.