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Saudi News; If women would dress more modestly...



Female cashiers in Saudi Arabia told to dress decently to stay employed

Saudi Arabia has told its women they must be dressed decently and keep their distance from men if they want to take up jobs as cashiers.

A Labour Ministry spokesman, quoted by a local newspaper on Thursday, said the government has no plans to ban women from working as cashiers in companies, shops and other outlets provided they stick to official regulations.

The spokesman, Hattab Al Anzi, said the Ministry had not issued any legislation blacklisting the cashier and sales career for woman, adding that all laws enacted over the past few years included only curbs on women's work.

"Women can work any where as long as they abide by existing laws and regulations," he told Alyoum Arabic language newspaper.

"As for women wanting to work as cashiers or sales ladies, they must be placed in isolated glass rooms, must be decently dressed and serve only ladies."

Saudi Arabia, one of the most conservative Muslim nations, has been struggling to find jobs for its fast-growing native population, estimated at around 15 million.



Saudi clerics challenge women jobs policy, women should not work as cashiers in supermarkets

By  AFP Published  Monday, November 01, 2010

Saudi Arabia's top clerics have challenged the government's policy to expand jobs for women with a fatwa ruling that they should not work as cashiers in supermarkets, a report said on Monday.

The official fatwa issuing body said that "it is not permissible for women to work in a place where they mix with men", the news website Sabq.org said.

"It is necessary to keep away from places where men congregate. Women should look for decent work that does not make it possible for them to attract men or be attracted by men," it said.

The ruling came from the Committee on Scholarly Work and Ifta, the official issuer of fatwas, or religious rulings, under the Council of Senior Scholars, the top authority for Islamic issues in the kingdom.

The fatwa was in response to a question -- published with the ruling -- asking specifically if women should work as cashiers in supermarkets, Sabq reported.

The ruling was unambiguous, and signed by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al Sheikh, the head of the Senior Scholars Council, and six other members of the fatwa committee.

The fatwa came some four months after the labour ministry quietly authorised stores in Jeddah to employ women as cashiers, in an attempt to open up opportunities for women who are forcibly segregated from men under the strict Saudi version of Sunni Islam.

The first to test the policy was the Saudi-owned Panda chain, which started by putting 16 Saudi women to work at one store in the Red Sea city to test the concept.

While there were grumbles from clerics, there were no concerted challenges, and at least two other popular chains, Marhaba supermarkets and Centrepoint, a general department store chain, had moved to employ women cashiers.

In an attempt to adhere to the spirit of the rules, Panda set up separate check-out lines for families and women, but not for single men, in the way that Saudi restaurants are separated into sections for men and for women and families.

However, that apparently has not satisfied the conservative clerics -- even though shoppers themselves in supermarkets around the kingdom are not segregated.

Saudi stops visas for women tailors

By Staff Published Sunday, March 13, 2011

Saudi Arabia has stopped issuing visas for foreign women dress tailors to encourage local workshops and create more jobs for national women, newspapers in the Gulf Kingdom reported on Saturday.

The ministry of labour said it had told all concerned establishments in the private sector that no visas would be issued any more for male tailors specialized in women dresses and that all such services would be transferred to national tailoring workshops confined only to women.

“We have notified all those establishments and the municipality of the new decision,” said Hattab Al-Anzi, a spokesman for the labour ministry.

“The decision is intended to encourage women to work in those workshops and also allow Saudi women to invest in these projects.”

Newspapers quoted several Saudi businessmen as criticizing the decision, saying it would inflict heavy losses on them as they might be forced to shut their tailoring business because of lack of skilled labour

In other news...

Muslims urged to avoid nutmeg in food
By Staff Published Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Muslims can use a little amount of nutmeg as a flavour in their food but it is better to avoid it altogether, according to a new Islamic edict issued Tuesday.

The Fatwa (Islamic edict) Centre at the General Authority for Islamic Affairs and Endowments in Abu Dhabi issued the edict in response to a question by an Emirati woman through its website, Alkhaleej daily reported.

“Islamic scholars have authorized the use of a very little amount of nutmeg in food to give it a good flavour on the grounds that a tiny amount of solid intoxicants is not prohibited,” the centre said in its new Fatwa.

“This means there is no problem adding a little amount of nutmeg to food but it is better and religiously safer to avoid using it altogether.”

Taken in high doses, nutmeg can be quite intoxicating. It causes symptoms such as stupor, drowsiness, delirium and sleep.

Flirting
By  Staff Published Thursday, March 31, 2011
Kuwaiti police shaved the heads of three teenagers after they were caught using a loudspeaker to recite love poems and giving out their phone numbers to girls leaving their high school.

According to Al Anba daily, the three youngsters had parked their car near the school and tried getting the attention of the girls by using a loudspeaker to shower them with expressions of love and flirtatious messages.

They teenagers gave their contact numbers in the hope that some of the girls would respond to them.

However, a two policemen who were patrolling the area heard the shouting and caught the trio after they discovered their trick. The police also found that the driver was underage and did not have a driving licence.

The head of the police station in Al Jahra ordered that their hair to be shaved off before further action is taken, Al Anba reported



If your teenagers think they have it rough let them read this :D

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