The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice never has and will never employ women, said a source at the commission. The emphatic denial came in response to enquiries about a report carried by Al-Riyadh Arabic newspaper recently claiming that the commission is studying establishing a unit for its female employees to perform their duties concerning women violators.
The newspaper quoted a source at the commission as saying that the job of the female members of the commission would be, if the unit was approved, to assist in apprehending and advising women in violation of rules within the commission's authority. The female members would remove some of the awkwardness for the male members in dealing with women and entering places designated for women or places suspected of having women in them illegally. They would also spread the commission's principles according to Shariah. The article stated that the study would determine the possibility of establishing the unit based on Shariah regulations for women to be members and to conduct their duties. |