Lingerie shops in Sharjah ordered to employ female sales staff
September 9, 2012 by admin
Filed under Latest Lingerie News
The Sharjah Executive Council’s decision to ask shops and malls to employ female sales staff where women’s dresses, especially female underwear and lingerie, are sold, is being implemented strictly. Shopkeepers in the emirate who fail to employ new female staff will be fined.
A number of readymade garment shops in and around Rolla, the Al Ghuwair Market, shopping malls, gold souq area and the old souq area have got notification from the Sharjah Economic Development Department to employ female staff if they are selling women’s undergarments.
The Sharjah Economic Development Department introduced the rule in 2007 and closed some shops flouting the rule.
Saudi Arabia recently introduced a new rule banning men from working in women’s lingerie shops. The Sharjah Executive Council introduced the rule in 2011 and its implementation is taking place now.
According to the latest warning letters issued to shops in the emirate, they will be fined heavily if they fail to employ female staff to handle female customers for lingerie.
The issue of men selling female underwear has been a matter of debate in the region, with Saudi Arabia implementing a decision to ban men from selling female undergarments. Sharjah followed suit and announced similar plans but they will be implemented by the end of 2012.
According to recent reports in the international media, Arab women who can afford not to shop in the region will go abroad to buy undergarments because many felt embarrassed to mention the size of their intimate wear to a male salesman. Many Arab and Muslim women are embarrassed to enter a garment shop to buy lingerie because all the sales staff are men. The female customers often have to explain their preferences to a man which they are reluctant to do.
The ban in Saudi Arabia applies to cosmetic shops and readymade garments. In Saudi Arabia, the decision affected 7,300 readymade shops and created about 40,000 job opportunities for women.
Several hundred readymade garment shops in Sharjah sell undergarments for women and their owners fear the new decision will be disastrous for small and medium sized shops.
Sameer, a readymade shop owner that employs two staff, said: “Eighty per cent of the customers who buy female and children’s dress are men. When they go for vacation, these male customers come and buy for their women and children.”
According to a senior official in the Sharjah Economic Department, a decision to introduce female staff in garment shops was taken last year and the department has been running a campaign to implement the scheme. Big shopping malls and hypermarket chains in the emirate can easily appoint new female staff, but the small and medium sized traders are a worried lot.
The Saudi Ministry of Labour had closed about 600 lingerie shops and warned many more for failing to employ female staff in their female undergarments and cosmetics section. Some shops could not get female staff because Saudi women had refused to work in these shops.
