Tampa, Florida-based Central Command, which has authority over U.S. military operations in the Middle East, recently ordered local commanders in the region to revise their policies to reflect that “wear[ing] 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.”
Since the mid-1990s, the military had required women stationed in Saudi Arabia to wear the abaya — a head-to-toe black gown — when off-base in Saudi Arabia. Lt. Col. Martha McSally sued the defense department, claiming the requirement discriminated against women and violated the religious freedoms of women by forcing them to wear clothes associated with a specific religious faith.
In her lawsuit, McSally noted that the State Department does not require women working for it in Saudi Arabia to wear the abaya.
A hearing on McSally’s lawsuit was scheduled for February 4, and will likely proceed. Along with the dress code changes, lawyers for McSally also argue that restrictions that mandate that female soldiers be accompanied by men when off-base, prohibit women from driving, and force them to sit in the back seat of automobiles, also violated the rights of women stationed in Saudi Arabia. Those rules are apparently unaffected by the clothing policy change.
Source:
Saudi dress code for female troops revised. Ann Gerhart, Washington Post, January 23, 2002.