Tahani Al-Ki'eak, head of the Businesswomen's Committee of Hail Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that businesswomen hope that the recently issued Nitaqat system achieves its desired goals. “There are problems related to private sector female workers in Hail and other regions. The problems are similar to those of men working in the same sector and are related to competition between expatriates and Saudis over salary, work hours, training and employment contracts. Any employer, whether male or female, has to deal with these problems,” she said. Al-Ki'eak said that she hopes that women's sections will be set up in government offices in Hail region to enable women to manage their own affairs without the need for them to resort to an attorney or a mediator, who might not do the job properly. “I hope that the mayoralty, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Passports Department set up women's sections to make life easier for women in Hail,” she said. Al-Ki'eak does not support women's work in places that require physical stamina such as mines and quarries; however “women can own and run a quarry or any other similar project as long as they are doing administrative work, which is suitable to their nature.” Mitha Al-Shammary, a businesswoman, said that the Ministry of Labor's decision to allow women to work in markets is logical. “Implementing the decision gradually will solve a large number of problems related to women's work in areas far from main cities, such as Hail, Al-Qasim and Tabuk. Al-Shammary said that it is good that the Ministry of Labor gave shop owners six months to implement the decision that only women are permitted to sell female accessories while it gave cosmetics shops 12 months to implement the regulation. “This will expedite women's work since there are women who want to start their own businesses but have been waiting for this decision to be implemented.” __
