FACTS LOOK stranger than fiction, especially in Saudi Arabia. In that conservative Islamic country where women walk many paces behind their husbands, where exposing even an innocuous part of the female body is a criminal offence and where a female victim of rape has to produce reliable witnesses to prove that she had played no role in inviting a rapist to have sex with her, some easterly winds of change are blowing to let the fair sex run their own show. The male salesmen in the lingerie and cosmetics shops in Riyadh, Jeddah and other small townships have been catering to the requirements of their women-patrons who come to the highly decorated and well lit outlets draped in large black gowns or Burqas from top to toe. It looked so ridiculous that salesmen who were not blood relations of female shoppers saw their faces and held their hands, acts forbidden by Islam.

The royal family of Saudi Arabia is a strict follower of the Wahhabi Islam. In other words they are ultra-conservatives and expect their subjects to follow suit. Interaction among men and women who are not blood relatives or legally married couples is strictly prohibited. The sale-purchase process being followed in the lingerie and cosmetic shops was indeed against the tenets of Wahhabi Islam. Allowing a free interaction between a male salesman and a female customer for a fairly long time in trying the goods, looking into the mirror with the veil up and face exposed certainly attracted sections of the criminal law. However, both the violators of the Law and the witnesses were fused into one. The administrators of criminal justice found it difficult to separate the two and proceed against the accused, legally in a criminal court.

Many women fashion designers had been advocating new ideas of retail of lingerie, cosmetics and allied fashion items. Some enlightened journalists of the Arab press also were helpful to the new cause of liberation of Saudi women without an infringement of the Saudi law laying down ground rules on the contact of non-blood relations, male and female.

There was light at the end of the tunnel when King Abdullah, the reigning and ruling monarch of Saudi Arabia lent his weight to the middle road solution of the problem.

Sales girls for women shops

Jolly good idea indeed. It too had roadblocks. The members, of course, are happier when the crop is good and there is no risk in sowing another crop. Cash in hand will see them through for quite some time. The agrarian cycle will go on. Women will enjoy new lingerie and men may not just look on but find ways to ensure that the strict laws of the Wahhabis are followed both in letter and spirit.

Many social and religious organisations stepped to suggest that best way out would be to employ sales girls in such shops where the clientele by and large comprises of fair sex. However, some other religious organisations came in the way of implementation of a new rule. The social pressure was built gradually and even His Majesty King Abdullah was convinced that having sales girls only in all-women shop was the only way out. The King of Saudi Arabia  brought to  bear such pressure on diehard religious organisations to loosen rules on males side and  get going on the female’s side so that the new project  gets going The  common  man was happy to note that under the  new law, with the support of King  Abdullah, only sales  girls were employed in  women’s shops that dealt with women’s requirements exclusively.

These shop owners were cautioned not to violate law on any count and carry on with sale-purchase in as smooth style as possible. King Abdullah wished it to succeed. The press reported that the venture is on way to success.