Have you ever seen a man as a salesperson in a lingerie store?
Not likely and even if you have seen one guy, it is clearly not the norm. I am not certain why more men do not work in the lingerie industry as salespeople. It certainly isn’t for lack of interest if the ratings of the Victoria’s Secret, even though its ratings dropped precipitously this year perhaps because it followed re-runs when other TV stations were televising new shows.
The February 2016 edition of National Geographic features an article on Women in Saudi Arabia which explains many of the restrictions which women face there. There are rigid rules for their retail sector including a prohibition on men selling lingerie to women.
That made me think. How many men work in the lingerie retail sector in the U.S.? And if there are men working in the lingerie retail sector are they in sales or product design? While there are certainly not rigid rules which prohibit men from working in lingerie sales, it is something that you rarely see in the U.S. Perhaps we have more in common with Saudi Arabia than we thought.
As Saudi Arabia’s gender roles evolve, it doesn’t hurt to compare their rules to see if we have any in common with them than we originally thought.
