Around 22,000 inspection rounds uncover compliance of 16,000 establishments to 3rd phase of the nationalization and feminization decision targeting women-only shops: MLSD

Spokesman of the Ministry of Labor and Social Development Khaled Abalkhail said labor inspectors conducted 22,714 rounds on commercial centers and independent stores across the Kingdom to make sure employers comply with the decision aiming to nationalize and feminize women-only shops in its third phase, which is in cooperation with several government entities.

Abalkhail clarified that the inspection rounds uncovered 16,328 compliant establishments (72 percent) compared to 6,386 uncompliant ones (28 percent), pointing out these figures came after a month from enforcing the third phase of the feminization and nationalization decisions.

Abalkhail highlighted the inspection campaigns detected 4,771 violations relating to the two decisions, including 1,101 nationalization violations which comprised 23 percent of the total detected violations, 3,226 feminization violations (68 percent) and 444 ones (9 percent) relating to other labor regulations.

The spokesman added the Makkah region recorded the highest number of violations at 1,905 and the labor inspectors issued 4,692 warnings against uncompliant establishments during these rounds.

Abalkhail urged customers to report violations or submit inquiries through dialing the customer service no. (19911) or using the ‘Ma3an lil Rasd’ app on smart phone.

Meanwhile, the third phase of the decisions kicked off on Oct. 21 (the beginning month of Safar) to nationalize and feminize shops selling women-only necessities, including perfumes, shoes, bags, women socks, ready-to-wear cloths, kiosks and women fabrics and department stores selling women cloths along with other staples.

It also targets small independent stores that sell soiree gowns, wedding dresses, Abaya (cloaks), accessories, Jalabiyas (traditional dresses) and mother-care products, as well as including pharmacies with sections that merchandise accessories and cosmetics.

In support of the move, the Human Resources Development Fund has offered an array of services for female workers through the children hospitality program ‘Qurrah’ and the transportation program ‘Wusool’ in order to increase number of Saudi women in the workforce.