RIYADH: Who should sell women's lingerie in the Kingdom? The question resurfaced after a Saudi woman initiated a boycott campaign against lingerie stores aiming to put pressure on shop owners to replace salesmen with women. "We urge every man and woman to help our privacy from being violated by men to whom we are obliged to buy our intimate clothing items," said the campaign's leader, Reem As'ad. "It's the most irritating experience so far to women."
The petition targets lingerie store owners in Saudi Arabia in order to convince them to comply with a labor law that states that women should be replacing men in marketing and sales of women's lingerie. Little momentum has been made to implement this initiative. With very few exceptions, lingerie store salesmen are just that: men.
"We only want to activate a law that was passed two years ago," said As'ad, an economics professor at Dar Al-Hekma College in Jeddah. She added the boycott would be the second step in the campaign. "First, we will communicate directly with CEOs and owners of stores, asking them to comply with the law," she said. "If they do not comply then the boycott begins."
"It's really strange that Saudi Arabia is the only country where you see men selling women's lingerie," she said. "Women walk around covered from head to toe, and yet they have to discuss the size and material of their undergarments with strange men. Isn't this odd?" |