From IOL
November 29, 2007
Riyadh - In a first for Saudi Arabia, 50 women began working for a shop offering laundry for pilgrims in Mecca, media reports said Thursday.
About 90 per cent of the workers in the first-of-its-kind shop are Saudis, local Okaz newspaper said.
Shop manager Mona Ba'arm told Okaz that the idea of the shop was inspired by a family business working in the hotel industry after they had sensed a pressing need for a women's laundry.
No "masculine elements" are ever allowed to step in the store, Ba'arm said.
About 35 women supervise the washing process, 15 others work on administrative jobs and the rest deliver the service.
The female workers received intensive training for 90 days to operate advanced machines, Okaz reported.
In another first, a girls' college pioneered the introduction of physical education classes for some of its female students for the first time in the history of the kingdom, al-Watan newspaper reported Wednesday, citing the college dean.
The sports classes will be part of a health education course for female freshmen students.
Girls' schools in the conservative kingdom do not offer physical education classes and many privately-owned gyms and pools are off limits to women. So are walking trails in Saudi cities.
The kingdom's clergy, which embraces the radical Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, cautions against introducing physical education in girls' schools.
They argue that girls should not disrobe outside their homes as changing in locker rooms may cause them to lose their morals.
Women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to drive cars. Neither are they allowed to get married unless approved by a male guardian, who should be either her father, brother or another blood relative. - Sapa-DPA
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