Shopgirls
Katherine Zoepf visits Saudi Arabia’s lingerie stores, and writes about the country’s social shifts as women take jobs as store clerks for the first time.
In June 2011, King Abdullah decreed that women were to replace all men working in lingerie shops. Nermin, who had never considered working, noticed a poster advertising positions. All the employees wore abayas and niqabs—black-cloaked figures against purples, reds, and innumerable shades of pink.