Starbucks boycott call after women banned from Saudi Arabia store

GLOBAL company, global issues. Starbucks is facing a boycott in France after this image of a sign at one of its cafes in Saudi Arabia went viral.

Sign prompts a Starbucks ’girlcott’

STARBUCKS is at the centre of a boycott after the company allegedly banned women from one of its stores in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.

Women in France are urging the public to keep clear of the US coffee chain after a sign in a Starbucks window, purportedly taken in Riyadh, instructed: “Please no entry for ladies, only send your drivers to order. Thank you.”

Women are banned from driving in the country — hence the reference to their drivers.

That sign prompted protests outside Starbucks stores in France by women calling on the public to boycott the company.

Boycott #Starbucks STOP APARTHEID towards women ! Paris 11-2-16 @josebove @rglucks1 @ArianeChemin @AnnickCojean pic.twitter.com/CncXi1WWEf

— Voltuan-Redde (@Voltuan) February 12, 2016

A petition started by the group of female activists pledging to boycott Starbucks over the sign had more than 12,000 signatures by Wednesday.

“We outraged citizens, call on Starbucks Coffee consumers to boycott all the cafes,” over the sign in the Riyadh cafe.

“The dignity of human beings and the female half of humanity is not negotiable,” the petition reads.

The group also started a conversation about the issue using the hashtag #Girlcott.

According to a report in Cosmopolitan, the religious police asked the cafe to stop women from entering after they noticed a ‘gender barrier’ — used to separate male and female clients — was not in place.

A Starbucks spokesperson told Cosmopolitan that the cafe in the Jarir bookstore in Riyadh underwent renovations for a gender barrier.

The company said it “adheres to the local customs by providing separate entrances for families as well as single people.”

“All our stores provide equal amenities, service, menu, and seating to men, women and families. We are working as quickly as possible as we refurbish our Jarir store, so that we may again welcome all customers in accordance with local customs,” read the statement.

The company quickly followed up with a revised statement later in the week that confirmed “the store is now accessible to single men on one side as well as women and families on the other side.”