The Air Force’s highest-ranking female combat pilot, Lt. Col. Martha McSally, is suing the Defense Department over their requirements on how female military personnel have to dress and comport themselves during postings in Saudi Arabia.
In a briefing right after she arrived, officers matter-of-factly laid down the rules for travel off base, even on official business: All female personnel would wear the customary head-to-toe gown, the abaya and its matching head scarf, similar to the Afghan burqa. They could not drive. They would ride in the back seat. They would be escorted by males at all times.
Officials said they had constructed the policy to keep from offending conservative Saudi leaders and to protect U.S. troops from terrorist attacks. But to McSally, the directive, with its different instructions for men and women, “abandons our American values that we all raised our right hand to die for.”
The article notes that these requirements were not imposed by the Saudi government. The State Dept. doesn’t require them for their female employees. Wives of military personnel stationed there do not have to wear the garment.
Nor was there an abaya rule for our military women when the Iraqis invaded neighboring Kuwait and U.S. troops drove them out. Furthermore, the policy specifically forbids male military personnel from wearing traditional Saudi garb.
And it’s not that McSally wants to flounce about town in a thong. She’s suggested women could wear loose-fitting, modest shirts and long skirts that would cover them, in deference to local mores.
The suit contends that the abaya policy is unconstitutional because it discriminates against women and violates their religious freedom by forcing them to adopt the garb of another faith. It seeks no monetary damages. McSally’s cause is drawing support from both conservative Republicans and liberal feminists.
“If it were in our national security to deploy to South Africa under apartheid, would we have found it acceptable or customary to segregate African American soldiers from other American soldiers, and say, ‘It’s just a cultural thing?’ ” McSally asks. “I don’t think so. I would hope not.”
(Via Cursor.org)