After the “skipped” Christmas, Starbucks sinks in Halal business.
“Please no entry for ladies.” And again: “Send your driver to order.” A caption with these texts placed in the window of a Starbucks at Riyad sparked outrage and indignation on the web. The ban is due to the fact that one of the ‘gender panels’ that serve to separate women and men in the famous cafeteria chain is missing and for this, they explain, the entrance to the women has been temporarily banned. In 2013 in Saudi Arabia – country strongly criticized for the few rights granted to women (which for example cannot drive) – a law obliges all shops and points of aggregation to adopt ‘gender walls’ or different access point to separate male customer from the female. Though are allowed spaces for families, ban for single women, ie. not accompanied by the husbands, is very strict.
Source: Arabia Saudita, il cartello di Starbucks a Riad: ‘Qui le donne non possono entrare’