Indonesia: Dress Codes Discriminate Against Women, Girls
(Jakarta) – Dress codes for women and girls in Indonesia discriminate against students, civil servants, and visitors to government offices and should be revoked, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The government should fully enforce a February 2021 decree that bans abusive dress codes for female students and teachers in Indonesia’s state schools, and take additional legal steps to end discrimination against women and girls.
The 98-page report, “‘I Wanted to Run Away’: Abusive Dress Codes for Women and Girls in Indonesia,” documents government regulations that require girls and women to wear the jilbab, Muslim apparel that covers the head, neck, and chest. Human Rights Watch describes the historical imposition of discriminatory regulations on clothing, and the widespread bullying to wear a jilbab that causes women and girls psychological distress. Girls who don’t comply have been forced to leave school or have withdrawn under pressure, while female civil servants have lost their jobs or resigned to escape constant demands to conform.
“Indonesian regulations and policies have long forced discriminatory dress codes on women and girls in schools and government offices that violate their right to freedom from coercion to adopt a religious belief,” said Elaine Pearson, Australia director at Human Rights Watch. “Indonesia’s national, provincial, and local governments should immediately end these discriminatory practices and let women and girls wear what they choose without sacrificing their right to education or work.”After a complaint from the father of a secondary school student in Padang, West Sumatra, went viral on social media, Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim, Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian, and Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas signed a decree on February 3 that allows any student or teacher to choose what to wear in school, with or without “religious attributes.” Makarim said that state schools had “misinterpreted” a 2014 regulation on uniforms. Qoumas said that the Padang case was just “the tip of the iceberg,” and that the mandatory jilbab regulation has been used “to discriminate, to intimidate and to pressure schoolgirls.”
Human Rights Watch documented many cases in which Christian and other non-Muslim students and teachers were also forced to wear the jilbab, which is usually combined with a long skirt and a long sleeve shirt. In English, the head covering is better known as a hijab.
Source: https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/03/18/indonesia-dress-codes-discriminate-against-women-girls
