• Report by Halimah Olamide
A report released by Oxfam International has highlighted the various injustices melted to women over their choices of dressing.
Oxfarm said it has observed series of violence against women in many countries of Middle East and North African countries.
The report looked into the predominant societal norms surrounding the concepts of decency, modesty and respect, which are used to control and regulate women’s clothing and appearances.
According to the report titled, “The Tyranny of Dress Codes”, which was made available to the NPO Reports, research shows that the society only deems women worthy of safety and security depending on their conformity with societal norms in terms of dressing.
“Women who do not abide by what is considered decent or modest may lose their ‘parental protection’.
“They are often perceived as deserving of punishment and discipline. The decency/modesty standard is a gendered social norm that women are raised with and obliged to adhere to from childhood. Men are not expected to follow the same standard,” the reported stated
The report However said not all women experienced violence to the same extent, as the limitations imposed by social norms regarding clothing, and violence arising from these, was experienced by all of the women who participated in the interview.
“All 60 women, without exception, agreed that they had been subjected to one or more forms of violence because of what was portrayed as their failure to comply with dress codes,” it stated
Assessing the impact of class, age and gender identity on women’s different experiences of violence, the report stated that class and better economic circumstances played a role, as women’s ability to own a private car or pay the fare for on-demand transportation reduced the likelihood of them being harassed on the street.
This also increased their ability to be relatively free from societal censorship and gave them more leeway to wear clothing of their choice.
According to Layan, a feminist activist in Jordan,
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“There is a permanent violation of us women. Men believe they have the right to control our
bodies and make choices for us, choices that are supposed to be ours. Our body parts are not called by their names; instead, they are called “the taboo”.
“We are made to feel ashamed of our bodies. In a patriarchal society, we are instruments of reproduction, obedience and service. Even in the simplest of scenarios, when a woman defends her right to choose, people
will say “No one can discipline her. She is aberrant, and her family did not raise her well.”
However, further research indicates that these norms impose a responsibility on men to ‘correct and control’ women’s dress codes.
A study conducted by Oxfam in Morocco (2019) documented this phe- nomenon. It found that most male respondents (78%) agreed that the husband has the right to force his wife to change her dressing habits, 64% thought that women should dress ‘modestly’, and 73% said they would not come to the aid of an abused woman if her clothes were ‘disrespectful’.
Participants also said that it is the duty of the family to monitor female appearances and clothings, which is however transferred to her husband when the female gets married.
“One time, I told my mother-in-law that my husband beat me whenever he did not like how I was dressed. She replied, “It is normal.
“We were beaten and swollen. You deserve to be hit when you do not abide by his word.” My mother said to me: “Your husband is jealous a little, what is the problem with that?” 29 year old Hasna said.
Many of these women also see the law to be condoning violence and injustice against women. Some women stated that the police intervene selectively or only after the incident.
Therefore, the continuous attempt to impose rules of dressing and appearance on women, especially by those who are looking for justifications to perpetrate violence against women, costs women physically psychologically and economically. It also limits their participation in the public sphere and reduces their professional and educational prospects.