Fatwa on Women Cashiers

7 Nov 2010 - Women cashiers were at work in several supermarkets in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia as their employer ignored a fatwa by the country's highest religious authority forbidding female checkout clerks. The popular Marhaba chain kept the women on the job despite the week old ruling, which contradicted a key government policy to create jobs for women. A Marhaba official said the women would keep working until they received an order from the Labor-ministry to stop the practice, which only began in the past three months after the Ministry said it was permitted. Marhaba has more than 25 women working in its branches. The official fatwa-issuing body under the Council of Senior Scholars ruled that the cashier jobs were not permissible, because they resulted in the women mixing with unrelated men.