Saudi Fatwa Against Women Cashiers Sparks Outrage

Jakarta Globe, November 02, 2010

Riyadh. Saudi women activists expressed outrage and confusion on Tuesday at a new fatwa challenging a government initiative to allow women to work as cashiers in supermarkets and department stores.

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 Tuesday.
(AFP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

The fatwa, or Islamic religious ruling, issued on Sunday by the kingdom's governing body of clerics, said the cashier jobs were not permissible because they resulted in the women mixing with unrelated men, which is prohibited under Saudi Arabia's ultra-strict form of Islam.

Signed by the country's grand mufti and six other top clerics, it contradicted a push by the government to create new jobs for women, who face high unemployment in the kingdom.

"The progressive women are all outraged," said Fawzia al-Bakr, a professor at Riyadh's King Saud University.

"It is not just about a woman working as a cashier ... There are more than 60,000 women university graduates looking for jobs, so this is a big thing."

Reem Asaad, a Jeddah economics professor, called the fatwa an attack on efforts like her campaign to create more jobs for women.

"Its an organised war to stop what we are trying to do," she said, adding that "we don't know what will happen now."

Objections also poured in from men and women on the internet.

"Another day, another misogynist fatwa," Eman al-Nafjan wrote on her popular website "Saudiwoman's Weblog."

The fatwa was issued by the Committee on Scholarly Work and Ifta, the official issuer of fatwas, under the Council of Senior Scholars, the top Islamic authority, and signed by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh and the six other members of the fatwa committee.

"It is not permissible for a woman to work in a place where they mix with men," it 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."

The ruling came months after several supermarkets and clothing stores began hiring women cashiers under the authorization of the labor ministry.

It appeared to be a challenge to an important government policy, in a country where the Islamic religious establishment carries huge political weight.

"There is some sort of a clash now between the political society and the religious society, a clash over an important issue," said Khalid al-Dakhil, who teaches political sociology at King Saud University.

"The government is now in a very difficult position," he said.

Agence France-Presse

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