Women in Saudi Arabia

Shopping in Saudi Arabia offers a glimpse of the strict cultural codes that govern the entire society. Here, a Saudi woman passes mannequins in the Kingdom Center in Riyadh that are legal because they have no heads. Because Saudi men and women are only permitted to work together in hospitals, all the sales people in Kingdom Center's mixed floors are male foreign workers, such as this man helping two Saudi women who are shopping for a watch.

In many ways when you look at these malls they might look like these common upscale malls in U.S. You can get boots by Bally, diamonds from Tiffany, handbags by Coach and Polo shirts from Ralph Lauren. But look around more closely and things in the Kingdom Center start to seem a bit strange. At the Rotana Music Factory, Celine Dion no longer wears just a sleeveless dress on the cover of her latest compact disc. Now she's wrapped in a black shawl that a censor drew in.

At McDonald's, women order from one side of a divided counter and disappear with their Value Meals into the walled-off "family section." Men order on the other side of the counter and sit in plain view of everyone. At Miss Selfridge, a trendy British retailer catering to young women, there isn't a single fitting room. For that matter, there are no female salespeople, either - only men.

But forget about going to the third level if you're a man. The elevator is marked "Ladies Only."