‘Saudi shuts male-staffed lingerie shops’

The ministry at the start of the year banned male assistants from working at lingerie shops,as a first step to be followed by women-only sales assistants at cosmetics outlets.

King Abdullah issued a decree in June 2011 limiting work for females at lingerie shops to Saudi women only in a bid to reduce high female unemployment in the conservative kingdom.

Unemployment among women in the oil-rich state is estimated at 30 per cent.