posted on December 3, 2001 07:16:12 PM
The highest-ranking female fighter pilot sued on Monday to overturn a policy that requires female military personnel in Saudi Arabia to wear black head-to-foot robes when off base. Servicewomen are the only federal employees based in Saudi Arabia to face such a requirement.
posted on December 3, 2001 08:08:52 PM
but...isn't a little rude to assume that, just because in America we don't have a dress code, that no other country has a right to enforce one?
We can be greatful for all of our freedoms here without forcing our beliefs on everyone else, whether we view it as right or wrong.
just for the record, I'm not suggesting it's okay to make your females cover themselves.
posted on December 3, 2001 08:13:01 PM
If they are the only American women that have to dress that way off the base then it is not a fair rule. I do agree that if all foreign women are expected to wear traditional clothing then they should also. When in Rome you know.
posted on December 3, 2001 08:17:37 PM
I knew quite a few nurses who worked in Saudi , and the same rules applied when they were out of the compound. They were also under surveillance. You have the right to an informed opinion -Harlan Ellison
posted on December 4, 2001 08:19:44 AM
I agree that when we are in other countries that we should respect their customs and their laws. In American it is ok to wear mini skirts in the streets. In other countries it is not. While in those countries we should dress appropriately. After all, in some countries, nude or topless sunbathing is quite the norm, yet here it is not.
That said, I feel that America should have one language. It is English, and all citizens should be able to speak it. I admire bilingual and trilingual people. I wish I was fluent in another language. But I disagree that we should provide ballots, and official documents in other languages. To vote, one must be a citizen, therefore, one should be fluent in English. It would be rude to choose to live in France or Germany, then demand that those countries provide all their official documents in English because we refuse to become fluent in the home country language.
posted on December 4, 2001 11:48:01 AM
Snowyegret, were the nurses in the military? It seems that the pilot's objection was that other female employees of the federal government didn't have to follow this policy.
I would agree that "when in Rome..." seems like common sense. I'm curious about what most foreign women wear when visiting Saudi Arabia.
posted on December 4, 2001 02:36:41 PM
I don't know if anything has changed, but more than 15 years ago, my sister worked for a company that had a presence in Saudi and at one point it looked like she was going to have to go there for a few months. She was sent to an orientation where she was told she could not leave the company compound (a small city actually with shopping, movies and bowling, ect.)for any reason after sundown and that if she left during the day, she would have to be escorted by a male and that she could not wear anything that exposed her sholders or upper arms, neck area or legs. She could not drive a vehicle either. They had to have locals drive them. They recommended she purchase a traditional garmet as soon as she arrived to be worn outside the compound.
She was pulled off the team that was going to go because they had an "incident" with one of the family members of someone already there. The man had taken his wife and adult daughter (19 at the time) with him. The daughter did not abide by the policy and had gone out on her own wearing a tank top and shorts. She was assulted. She was arrested. She was charged with "moral misconduct". She was sentenced to being lashed. It caused a lot of problems for the company and the American government. They finally decided to just "permanently expel" the mother and the daughter. The company changed it's policy and no families, and no single women were allowed to go there.
As to what happened to the man who assulted the American girl??? Nobody knows what happened, but he too was arrested.
