Saudi Arabia to limit power of religious police Soon after taking over, Sheikh barred volunteers from serving in the commission, which was instantly reduced to its full-time complement of 3,500. The Ha'ia, as it is called in Arabic, has also enforced bans on mingling by men and women who are unrelated to each other, and on public entertainment. It has ensured all businesses close for prayers five times a day and chased errant males into mosques at the muezzin's call. Known for having full beards - sometimes henna-dyed - and for wearing their headscarves loose, prior to milder reforms in 2007 its agents were armed with wooden canes to aid the enforcement of Sharia law. Female activists in particular will welcome the changes, though it appeared unlikely to further significantly their primary goal of ending the prohibition on women driving. The announcement was perhaps the most important of several reforms introduced under King Abdullah, which have gathered pace since the Arab Spring swept aside other unelected leaders in the region. Saudi Arabia entered female athletes for the first time at Olympics games this summer, though the decision brought a backlash from conservative-minded members of the public and clerics. Women have been allowed to vote in future municipal elections, the only public polls held in the kingdom, while in 2009 the first co-educational further education institute opened despite strong clerical opposition. The king issued a decree limiting work at lingerie shops to Saudi women, in a bid to reduce female unemployment estimated to be at 30 percent. The authorities also granted permission for the first film to be shot entirely on location in the country. Wadjda, which played at the Venice film festival, followed the everyday life of a ten-year-old girl and her attempts to circumvent restrictions and break social barriers, both at school and at home.