Military dress code policy criticized

Group, Jul/Aug 2001 by Roller, Julia

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia-In a recent USA Today interview, Major Martha McSally, a U.S. Air Force pilot, charged the U.S. military with discriminating against women in its foreign dress code. The policy requires women deployed in predominantly Muslim Saudi Arabia to wear an abaya, a black headscarf and a shapeless, neck-to-toe robe customarily worn by Muslim women.

McSally called the U.S. dress code "ridiculous and unnecessary" because the Saudi government only asks that nonMuslim women dress modestly. McSally is refusing to wear an abaya, and she argues that women should be able to wear their uniforms on official business and long pants and long-sleeve shirts when off-duty.

"I'm neither Muslim nor Saudi, I am a Christian," says McSally. "We don't make someone who's not Jewish wear a yarmulke on their head."

American women who work at the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia are not required to wear abayas, but some choose to wear the robe anyway to avoid angering Muslim men, especially in the conservative area of Riyadh.

In Islam, the traditional reason for women to cover themselves with shapeless clothes is to keep them from providing temptation for Muslim men.

If you were McSally, would you wear the abaya? Why or why not? Are there any types of clothing that you won't wear or that your parents won't let you wear because they might be inappropriate or violate your Christian beliefs? If so, what clothing and why? If a person of another faith came to church wearing clothes that you thought were inappropriate, what would be your reaction?

What type of clothing or dress is pleasing to God? Does God even care about what you wear? Why or why not? Does the way you dress depend on where you are and who you're with? Explain.

McSally was angered because the dress restrictions only affected women. Are there different standards for dress in Christianity for men and women? If so, why? Should women be concerned about tempting men with their style of dress? Why or why not?

Scripture links: 1 Samuel 16:7; Isaiah 3:16-24; Ezekiel 16:810; Matthew 6:28-33; 1 Timothy 2:9-10; and 1 Peter 3:3-4. 8

Julia Roller is a contributing editor for group and a free-lance writer living in California.