The Human Resource Fund is to subsidize Saudi lingerie saleswomen's salaries by 50% over the next three years. The fund will also pay for the women's training both by the shop owner or in authorized training centers. However, the Director of the Human Resources Fund, Ibrahim Al-Me'aiqil, has promised that the women's salaries will not be less than SR3,000. “The fund will bear SR2000 if the salary is SR4,000. Hence, SR2,000 is the ceiling for support. The fund also supports training by paying 50 percent of the fees. He revealed that registration for the jobs is continuing and several companies have submitted applications for financial support from the fund. “The Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) will also provide free training centers to prepare women for jobs in sales, customer service, store supervisor, and cashier. The training period will last for three weeks,” Al-Me'aiqil said. However, if the shop owner chooses to train the women the fund will also pay the full cost of this training. Al-Me'aiqil said that there has been a huge response from companies to employ Saudi women in lingerie shops. “There is stiff competition among companies now toward employing Saudi women in these jobs and some of them are paying salaries of up to SR5,000,” he said. Al-Me'aiqil praised the cooperation of agencies such as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the Hai'a), the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, and the Human Resources Fund. These are working to ensure women can continue in their jobs in a suitable atmosphere, Al-Me'aiqil said. “The fund is looking to achieve the best results by implementing the second stage, so that all shops for women's lingerie will be solely run by women,” the HRF official added. __
