The
Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has warned
against false job advertisements that aim at luring women into immorality. It
said that those involved in such practices would be punished.
“Saudi authorities will not show any leniency toward people who publish such
false advertisements to seduce women; they will be dealt with strongly,” said
Ahmed bin Qassim Al-Ghamdi, director general of the commission’s office in
Makkah.
Mohammed Al-Ghamdi, director of licenses at the Information Ministry, said
newspapers should ensure the authenticity of advertisements before publishing
them. “If we receive any complaint, the person involved will be held
responsible in accordance with the law,” he told Al-Madinah daily recently.
The advertisements in question often offer attractive salaries and benefits
to women job seekers who do not have any experience or qualifications, the
paper said. The employers will say that applicants will be given necessary
training.
Some women job seekers said when they contacted the advertisers, they were
told that the employers were seeking pretty, forward-looking women who would
not object to mingling with men.
Hajar Mahmoud, who was lured by one such advertisements, said working with
such people would have disastrous consequences.
Tahani Al-Harbi, another Saudi woman, talked about her experience when she
applied for a secretarial job. “When I contacted them for the job, I was told
the applicant should be open-minded, mature and beautiful,” she said.
Khaled Al-Zahrani, an advertisement executive, said there were strict
conditions to accepting advertisements related to women, such as the person
placing the ad should come to the advertising office and provide personal
information.
“This will help us determine whether the advertisement is a sham or not,” he
said.
