Aqal Al-Aqal Al-Hayat The Ministry of Labor has recently issued a decision requiring Saudi women who work for women's accessory shops to wear a niqab (face veil) and to refrain from speaking with their male co-workers. However, the ministry has breached a basic human right of women employees by interfering in their affairs by telling them what they should wear and to whom they should and should not talk. Furthermore, the decision has been taken at a time when most malls have surveillance cameras in place which can record any act of harassment of women, be they customers or workers. Improving the condition of the work environment for women is more important than telling female workers how to behave at work. This decision might spur other government agencies to follow suit and end up putting even more pressure on women. Questions which must be answered include: Who is going to implement the ministry's decision and make sure all women wear a niqab? Will employers set the wearing of a niqab as a condition for a job application? It is up to a woman to decide whether or not she will wear a niqab. Imposing it on workers who do not want it is another way of discouraging women from working. The ministry has made a lot of concessions on this issue. However, there is, unfortunately, a small group in society that has the upper hand and tries to impose its ideas on the majority of the public. This group wants the world to think that this is the position of Saudi society regarding women working. We all remember when members of this small group went to the ministry's headquarters and protested the decision allowing women to work. That was a few years ago. Those people do not want women to go out, let alone work. They do not have any right to impose their opinions on others. The government does not force any woman to work in women's accessory shops. Therefore, no one has the right to prevent women from making a living and leading an honorable life as long as such work is being done under the supervision of the concerned authorities. The niqab decision is nothing more than a step backward making it difficult for women to earn money legitimately. In fact, if anything, it seeks to marginalize women in society. Every year hundreds of Saudi women travel abroad for study or vacation. Some wear a niqab and some do not. Yet, they are treated with due respect. Personal convictions should be differentiated from traditions. Look all over the Kingdom and you will see different members of society with different views on the niqab. You will see many women in some parts of the country who wear a niqab while in other areas they do not. It all boils down to our personal views of the niqab. If the ministry had made this decision after it conducted several studies on the female workforce and the environment in which women work and had discovered what women wanted, I would have held this decision in high esteem. But, as I have heard, women were not part of the decision-making process. In fact, many of them were surprised by the decision. The niqab has been a contentious issue among scholars. Cairo-based Al-Azhar University has banned female students from wearing a niqab on campus and in class. The niqab is banned in several places for reasons of security because there have been terrorist operations executed by people who used the niqab to hide their identity.
