Pilot's crusade leads to U.S. abolishment of Saudi dress code: Seven years after the Air Force's top-ranked female fighter pilot began a one-woman crusade, the Defense Department Tuesday dropped its requirement that female military personnel in Saudi Arabia put on black head-to-toe gowns when leaving their base. [...] Lt. Col. Martha McSally had sued Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over the dress code. She contended that the policy on abayas, a form of head-to-toe gown similar to the burqa worn by many women in Afghanistan, discriminates against women and violates their religious freedom by forcing them to adopt the garb of another faith.
Hmm.
Frankly, I think this decision reflects two things: (1) the Defense department knew it would lose. It's reallly an untenable position to state that the women are required to wear Saudi traditional dress, but the men are absolutely forbidden. (2) Behind the scenes, I'll bet they know that the Saudis have already decided to ask us to pull out -- although I wouldn't expect the request before the middle of the year, so as to give everyone some cover so that the Saudis can pretend it has nothing to do with bin Laden and their internal fanatics -- and so the Defense department sees no reason to continue with a policy it can't really defend in the first place.
Mind, it'll be fascinating to see precisely what "wear of the abaya in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not mandatory but is strongly encouraged and to remove any requirement to wear civilian clothing to cover the uniform" means in practice. "Strongly encouraged" in the military tends to mean "Do it or else."
Posted by iain at January 23, 2002 10:32 AMComments