Saudi Program Calls for Gender-Mixing, No Prayer Closure
- Official document shows government recommendations for change
- Kingdom has already lifted ban on cinema, women driving
Female shoppers walk through the Kingdom Centre shopping mall in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Dec. 2, 2016.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A Saudi government program to improve the quality of life in the kingdom called for the legalization of gender mixing and an end to the mandatory prayer closures for businesses, significant steps to ease social restrictions in the conservative country.
The 236-page document sent to reporters Thursday night outlining the government’s new Quality of Life Program called for lobbying to amend the laws, saying the areas “require immediate regulatory changes.”